Baghdad Tanker Blast Kills At Least 10 Iraqis

Giving a final death toll, a police general at the Ministry said 10 people were killed including two believed to have been inside the truck.

"These people could not control the vehicle at the crossroads and it exploded crashing into a civilian car," General Nuri told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The toll overturned previous police figures of 16-18 dead and a dozen wounded at a major crossroads in southwestern Baghdad.

"The number of dead is high because the crossroads is congested and leads to three different residential areas," the city’s police chief General Sabah Fahed said.

He argued the explosion was "an act of terrorism because there was no (military) target here."

The blast went off at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in the Al-Bayaa district in the southwest of the capital, police said.

The tanker had not been carrying petrol but a load of explosives which were deliberately set off, according to the police chief.

But other police officers and eyewitnesses had a different theory, suggesting the blast targeted a U.S. convey passing by.

Hassan Haidar Khattab, a vegetable seller who was walking out of his house, said he saw a U.S. convoy and the tanker was trying to follow it over the crossroads.

"There appeared to be an accident when a white civilian car crashed into the tanker which exploded," he added.

A senior police officer agreed there were other theories on the cause of the explosion.

Several vehicles caught fire after the tanker exploded.

Reporters at the scene said the tanker exploded in the middle of a wide crossroads, devastating the immediate surrounding area, incinerating cars and people in them.

Four people were dead in one car, while a pickup truck, a minibus and the tanker truck were reduced to burnt-out metal wreckage.

The blast came a few days after U.S. occupation forces announced the capture of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Although Washington said that his capture could be a crushing blow to resistance fighters, some observers said a video clip played by the U.S. army of Saddam in custody could fan already-seething sentiments among ordinary Iraqis against occupation forces.

President of the Vatican Justice and Peace Commission Cardinal Renato Martino lambasted the U.S. for showing humiliating pictures of Saddam.

"I personally felt sorry to see this broken man treated like a cow as they checked his teeth," he said.

American President George W. Bush appeared to call for the execution of Saddam, as some analysts and lawyers, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsy Clarke, suspected he would get a "fair, objective" trial.

U.S. forces also declared on Tuesday that they shot dead at least 16 Iraqis in three Iraqi towns in the past 24 hours.

They have also detained nearly 80 people in Samarra, north of Baghdad, according to the BBC News Online.

Backed by attack helicopters and armored cars, the occupation forces launched new raids on Wednesday, picking up eight fresh detainees.

The soldiers forced their way into houses in the middle of the night, blowing down gates with plastic explosives.