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17 killed in Baghdad bomb blasts

Blackwater - US firm banned over civilian killings
Blackwater - US firm banned over civilian killings

Seventeen people have been killed in three separate bomb blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Seven people died following a car bombing at a morgue near the Health Ministry in central Baghdad this morning.

Another 15 people were wounded in the explosion, which occurred as the facility was crowded with people searching for relatives.

The morgue, in the capital's Babel Muaddam neighbourhood, was filled with those searching for the unclaimed bodies of previous bomb attacks.

Eight people were killed and 22 wounded in another car bomb attack in the Ur neighbourhood, not far from the Shia district of Sadr City.

And in the east Baghdad district of Zayouna, a car bomb killed two people and wounded five others.

Meanwhile, Iraq will review the status of all foreign and local security companies working in the country after a shooting incident involving contractors from the US firm Blackwater.

The security contractor was banned from operating in Iraq after the deaths of nine people in clashes in Baghdad on Sunday.

The incident occurred after a bomb exploded close to a US diplomatic convoy in the Iraqi capital's western al-Yarmukh neighbourhood.

Blackwater members accompanying the convoy opened fire, leaving nine people dead - eight civilians and an Iraqi police officer.