Explosions near U.S. convoy kill 35 kids, 7 adults

Ten more people were reportedly taken hostage today in Iraq.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Bombs exploded near a U.S. convoy in western Baghdad today, killing 35 children and seven adults, a hospital official said. Hours earlier, a suicide car bomb killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital's outskirts.
The bombs in Baghdad's al-Amel neighborhood caused the largest death toll of children in any insurgent attack since the conflict in Iraq began 17 months ago. The children, who were still on school vacation, said they had been drawn to the scene by American soldiers handing out candy.
The blasts -- at least two of which were car bombs -- went off in swift succession about 1 p.m., killing 42 people and wounding 141 others, including 10 U.S. soldiers. The bombs targeted a ceremony in which residents were celebrating the opening of a new sewage system, and a U.S. convoy was passing by at the same time, said Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman.
"The Americans called us, they told us, 'Come here, come here,' asking us if we wanted sweets. We went beside them, then a car exploded," said 12-year-old Abdel Rahman Dawoud, lying naked in a hospital bed with shrapnel embedded all over his body.
The day of violence, including insurgent attacks and U.S. airstrikes in Fallujah, left a total of 46 people dead and 208 wounded.
Car bomb
In the northern city of Tal Afar, meanwhile, a car bomb targeting the police chief killed at least four people and wounded 16, Iraqi and U.S. officials said. A police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said the police chief, whose name was only given as Col. Ismail, escaped the assassination attempt.
There were conflicting accounts about what caused the blast. Military spokeswoman Capt. Angela Bowman said it was a car bomb, but police in nearby Mosul said it was a device planted in the road.
Hostages
Also today, the Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video of 10 new hostages seized in Iraq by militants. Al-Jazeera said the 10 -- six Iraqis, two Lebanese and two Indonesian women -- were taken by The Islamic Army in Iraq. The group has claimed responsibility for seizing two French journalists last month.
A Lebanese official later said kidnappers had released one Lebanese captive, although it was not clear if he was among the 10.
In the al-Amel bombings, grief-stricken parents wailed over the bodies of their children at the Yarmouk Hospital morgue. One woman tore at her hair before pulling back the sheet covering her dead brother and kissing him.
One man carried his younger brother -- both legs bandaged -- to the hospital, where some children were put two to a bed because of the many wounded. Outside, women sat on the ground and wept as they awaited news about their children.
The hospital received 42 bodies -- including those of 35 children -- and 131 wounded, said Iyhsan Nasser, head of the facility's statistics department.
At the site of the blasts, body parts were strewn in the streets amid pools of blood. A U.S. helicopter evacuated some of the wounded while other aircraft circled overhead and soldiers sealed off the area.
Lt. Col. Jim Hutton, spokesman for the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, said 10 American soldiers were among the wounded.
Hours earlier, a suicide car bomber struck in the Abu Ghraib area outside of Baghdad, killing the American and at least two Iraqis, and wounding 60, said Dr. Abbas al-Timimi. Three of the wounded were U.S. troops, said Maj. Philip Smith, spokesman for the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division.