Iraq bombs near Green Zone and foreign ministry kill 25

Three bombs near central Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, including one opposite the foreign ministry, killed 25 people today, the latest in the country's worst surge of violence in nearly six years.
The attacks, which wounded dozens more, came as security forces battle militants in the western province of Anbar, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a powerful jihadist group that has exploited the chaos in neighbouring Syria.
With violence at its highest level since 2008, diplomats have urged the Shiite-led government to reach out to Sunnis in order to undercut support for militancy, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line ahead of April's parliamentary elections.

The rush-hour bombings today morning, which included a suicide attack, ripped through confessionally mixed areas of the capital bordering the Green Zone complex, home to parliament, the prime minister's residence and the US and British embassies.
The explosions killed 25 people and wounded another 35, security officials and a medical source said.
One attack was just opposite the foreign ministry, but accounts differed as to what caused the explosion. Two security officials said the blast was caused by a car bomb, but witnesses said a suicide bomber had carried out the attack.

The area surrounding the ministry has been hit by explosions in the past, notably in August 2009, when a massive truck bomb devastated the building, and again ahead of an Arab summit in Baghdad in 2012.

A suicide bomber also hit a restaurant, and a vehicle rigged with explosives was detonated in a market for car spare parts, both close to the Green Zone.
Blood and pieces of flesh littered the scene at the restaurant, and soldiers said one of their comrades had wrapped his arms around the bomber in a bid to save others.
A rocket attack on Haifa street in central Baghdad, meanwhile, left at least five others wounded.
The day's toll could have been higher still, but security forces found a roadside bomb near the oil ministry in central Baghdad and carried out a controlled explosion.