Three cars containing explosives detonated minutes apart from one another during Friday evening rush hour in the city centre that left 26 people dead and close to 300 wounded.

The two cars, both Fiat Unos, detonated almost simultaneously, just after 5 P.M.

"Another car detonated about 30 meters away," plunging shrapnel into his body, he said.

At 8:32 a.m., a car packed with plastic explosives and ball bearings detonated outside the station, killing 24 policemen as well as two women and a child.

Saad Hatim, 24, said he had been drinking tea at an open-air cafe next to the migrants' curbside mustering point when the car detonated.

A car laden with explosives, parked nearby, detonated, killing Mr. Tueni and two security workers.

The car then detonated outside the station's outer wall, sending shrapnel and body parts from the bomber flying.

The first occurred March 29, when a car detonated at a checkpoint near Najaf, killing four American soldiers.

An explosives-packed car and a roadside bomb detonated minutes apart at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) in the centre of Kut, medical and security officials said.

The explosion was so powerful, she said, that pieces of one man's body were blown about 50 yards from where the car detonated.