Blasts kill more than a dozen people

A journalist's kidnappers want to trade her for eight detained Iraqi women.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Two near-simultaneous bombings targeted a crowded downtown Baghdad coffee shop and a nearby restaurant Thursday, killing more than a dozen people. The attacks came as a foreign assessment team reported evidence of fraud in the Dec. 15 elections but did not endorse calls for a rerun.
The bombings occurred despite government moves to heighten security as the election commission prepares to announce the election results. The announcement, which could come today, sets the stage for talks on a new national unity government U.S. officials hope will help calm the insurgency and enable the United States to begin withdrawing its 140,000 troops.
The first explosion occurred at a coffee shop on bustling Saadoun Street in the heart of Baghdad. Seconds later, a blast caused by a planted bomb rocked a restaurant just down the street.
Some officials said the first blast was triggered by a suicide attacker wearing an explosive vest, while others insisted both were caused by bombs detonated by remote control.
Officials variously reported the death toll between 13 and 25. Police Lt. Osama Mohammed blamed the confusion on miscounting of bodies because the blast sites were so close.
The explosions shattered shop windows and destroyed several cars. Wooden tables and chairs were strewn over the bloodstained pavement as rescue workers treated the wounded. Two men sobbed beside the bodies of two men covered with bloodstained blankets outside the coffee shop.
Kidnapped journalist
The mother of abducted American Jill Carroll, meanwhile, appealed for her daughter's release. Her captors have threatened to kill the journalist unless U.S. authorities release all Iraqi women in military custody by tonight. Muslim leaders in Iraq and elsewhere joined in the appeal.
Mary Beth Carroll, speaking on CNN Thursday, said video images of her daughter in captivity, aired by Al-Jazeera television, gave her hope she is alive but also have "shaken us about her fate."
"I, her father and her sister are appealing directly to her captors to release this young woman who has worked so hard to show the sufferings of Iraqis to the world," the mother said.
The U.S. military has said eight Iraqi women are in military detention. An Iraqi government commission reviewing detainee cases recommended to U.S. authorities Monday that six of them be released.
Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim Ali said the six women would be freed next week but "not part of any swap with any kidnappers."
However, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said no prisoner release was imminent.
Attacks were expected
Thursday's blasts were part of a surge in violence in Iraq this week. U.S. and Iraqi officials have predicted a spike in attacks when the election figures are released.
Maj. Gen. Mahdi Sabih Hashim said Thursday that heightened security would be in effect nationwide in the "coming days." He gave no details but said authorities intend to go after "terrorists deep in their hideouts."
Preliminary reports indicate an alliance of Shiite Muslim religious parties won the most seats in the 275-member parliament but not enough to govern without coalition partners, including Sunni Arabs and Kurds. The Shiite alliance dominates the current government.
Final results have been withheld pending a report by a foreign assessment team into allegations of fraud leveled by major Sunni Arab parties. On Thursday, the team released its report saying it found numerous violations and indications of fraud. But it did not call for a new vote, as some Sunnis had demanded.
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