Death toll rises to 43 in Basra blasts

IRAQ: The death toll has risen to 43 from a spate of blasts in Iraq's southern port city of Basra which officials said Sunday were caused by bombs and not a power generator short circuit as first believed.

"We received 43 corpses, and 185 people have been wounded," said Dr. Riyadh Abdelamir, director of Basra province's health department, adding that women and children were among the wounded in Saturday's attacks.

Ali al-Maliki, the head of the Basra provincial council's security committee, on Sunday said the blasts had been caused by coordinated attacks - a double car bombing and a third roadside bomb which caused a large fire in crowded Ashaar market in the centre of Basra, Iraq's second largest city.

"The attack that hit Basra yesterday evening was the result of terrorist action," said Maliki, who added that the blasts had occurred between 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm Saturday.

The city's police command had late Saturday attributed the explosion to the short-circuit of a communal power generator. Basra, SUnday, AFP