25 dead as blast hits Baghdad bus station

Baghdad: A car bomb killed 25 people on Thursday at a busy intersection in Baghdad where minibuses pick up and drop off passengers.

In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed three British soldiers and seriously wounded another in the early hours of Thursday, the British military said.

The soldiers were on foot at the time of the blast in southeastern Basra, spokesman Major David Gell said.

The latest attacks underscore the strength of Sunni and Shi'ite militants in Iraq despite the arrival of 28,000 additional US troops. The unrelenting violence is pushing the country to the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

Police in Baghdad said the car bomb exploded in the Shi'ite district of Bayaa. The blast, which went off during the morning rush hour, wounded 40 people and destroyed dozens of vehicles.

The Bayaa area in southwest Baghdad has been a frequent target of car bombs blamed on Sunni Islamist Al Qaida.