Westerners abducted

Baghdad: Gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped at least three Western lecturers as separate bombings killed dozens of people in Baghdad on Tuesday.

The gunmen seized the lecturers and several of their bodyguards from a Finance Ministry building in central Baghdad, the witness said.

Police identified the lecturers as German and said that at least 40 gunmen sealed off streets around the ministry building before the abduction.

Meanwhile, at least 23 people were killed and 68 wounded when a bomb planted in a parked minibus exploded in a busy commercial area in central Baghdad, police said.

The blast was near a major intersection in Tayaran Square, an area filled with markets where day labourers wait for work.

At least 15 people were killed and 36 wounded in another car bomb attack in Baghdad's southwestern Amil district, police said.

Around Iraq, at least six US soldiers died when a series of explosions hit their convoy. Two soldiers were also killed when their helicopter went down late on Monday.