Three suicide bombers detonated car bombs near foreign missions in central Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 168.

The blasts near the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies followed mortar attacks on the Iraqi capital's Green Zone, home to government buildings, official residences and foreign embassies.

The bombers appear to have targeted embassies in the wealthy Mansour district. One bomb blew up in front of the main gate of the Iranian embassy, just outside the Green Zone. It destroyed about 30 cars and caused major damage to a nearby bank.

"This is enough. We are tired of explosions, we do not feel safe," said Jassim Mohammed, 39, who was driving a mini-bus with four passengers when the bomb exploded.

"We go out of our homes and we do not know whether we will come back or not," said Mohammed, who was wounded in the head, arm and leg.

Haider Karim, 32, said one of the blasts took place as a convoy was leaving the Egyptian embassy. The explosion left a large crater in the street in front of the embassy.

"Many security guards at the embassy were killed and wounded. I saw body parts at the scene," he said.

An Interior Ministry source said the three bombings killed at least 30 people and wounded 168. Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi put the toll at 17 dead and 140 wounded.

The car bombings followed a series of other incidents in the Iraqi capital. Two mortar rounds landed in the Green Zone early on Sunday and four on Saturday night.

A roadside bomb that targeted a police patrol in the capital on Sunday wounded five officers and five civilians. A bomb attached to a civilian vehicle in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district killed two people on Saturday.

They came as Iraqi political parties negotiate to form a government, nearly a month after a general election that left four main blocs, none with sufficient seats to form a parliamentary majority on their own.


Agencies