Two explosions at a municipal government building in the Iraqi town of Taji on Tuesday killed at least 35 people and wounded 50 others, officials said. Hours earlier, a rocket attack slammed Baghdad's Green Zone.
A car bomb and another explosive detonated in a crowded parking lot of the government building in Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad, security sources told Reuters.
Iraqi officials also said that a late night rocket attack on Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone killed four Iraqis and wounded 10 late Monday night.
Militants fired a Katyusha rocket as Americans were celebrating Fourth of July at the U.S. Embassy, located in the Green Zone, a police officer said. The rocket hit a residential complex for laborers working at a hotel and sparked a fire.
A doctor at a nearby hospital confirmed the causalities. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.
The sprawling Green Zone houses Iraqi government headquarters and the U.S. and British embassies. It's a favorite target for insurgents' mortar and Katyusha attacks.
Double car bomb
Iraqi officials said the death toll from the Taji blasts was 35 people. Earlier, D eputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad said at least 50 had been wounded.
"It was a double explosion. The first was caused by a car bomb. We have no idea what the second was, whether a suicide bomber or a roadside bomb," said Raad al-Tamimi, the head of the Taji municipality.
"The place was crowded with people who were going to process official papers and with police and employees," he said.
The bombings followed a series of attacks that targeted Iraqi security forces over the last two days, killing at least ten police and soldiers and wounding 22 others.