BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A pair of roadside bombs exploded along a commercial street in central Baghdad’s Karrada district Monday, killing eight people and wounding 23 others, police said.
The first bomb detonated around 7:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. ET Sunday). The second bomb exploded as authorities and people in the area responded to the first attack.
It was the second day in a row that the Karrada district was hit by bombs. On Sunday, a minibus packed with explosives blew up on a commercial road there, killing 11 people and wounding 15 others, a Baghdad police official said.
Separately, police said 30 bullet-riddled bodies were found by Iraqi police across the capital on Sunday. These deaths are typically attributed to sectarian violence in the capital between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
On Sunday, a string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq killed and wounded dozens to cap a bloody weekend for the war-ravaged nation.
Reports of the attacks came as the British Ministry of Defense announced that two British military helicopters apparently collided and crashed Sunday in a rural area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, killing two British troops and injuring four others, one seriously.
Initial reports suggest the crash was an accident and enemy fire was not involved, British Defense Secretary Des Browne said.
The Puma choppers went down near Taji, a town 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The dead were from the Royal Air Force and British army, Browne said. The number of British troops killed in the Iraq war stands at 142.
Shoppers dazed by car bombs
Also Sunday morning, two car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in a shopping and dining area of southwest Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding another 52 people, according to Baghdad police.
The first bomb hit a popular restaurant at about 10 a.m., while a second one exploded 10 minutes later and 100 yards away in an outdoor market in al-Shurta al-Rabeia district, police said.
Later, in northwestern Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest on a small bus, killing six people and wounding 11, Baghdad police said. The bus was traveling between the predominantly Shiite neighborhoods of Autaifiya and Kadhimiya.
More U.S. soldiers dead
Also in the capital Sunday, small-arms fire killed an American soldier backing an Iraqi national police unit near a mosque, the U.S. military said. An Iraqi civilian also was wounded, the military said.
On Saturday, a U.S. soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near troops conducting a foot patrol in southern Baghdad, the military said. Also Saturday a U.S. Marine died during combat operations in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the military said.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 3,301 U.S. military personnel have died in the war, including seven Defense Department civilians.
In Baiji, north of Baghdad, four Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others were wounded Sunday when a suicide car bomber slammed into an army checkpoint, a Tikrit police official said.
The city, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the capital, is in Salaheddin province and is home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery.
In a separate attack, gunmen wounded the commander of Iraq’s border police in Salaheddin province and killed four border police officers in an ambush on the commander’s convoy Sunday afternoon.
In the northern city of Mosul, four people were killed and 16 others were wounded Sunday when two suicide car bombs exploded in quick succession at an Iraqi army base, police said. Two Iraqi soldiers were among the dead, a police official said.
Also in Mosul, four Iraqi soldiers were critically wounded when a car bomb detonated near their patrol, the official said.
Other developments
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
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