At least 36 dead as car bombs rock Baghdad hotels

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three large car bombs rocked well-known Baghdad hotels on Monday, killing at least 36 people and ending a 1-1/2-month lull in coordinated assaults on the Iraqi capital as the country heads into a March election.

The first blast occurred near an entrance of the Ishtar Sheraton hotel, a Baghdad landmark on the eastern side of the Tigris River. The shock wave blew open doors, shattered windows and sent thick dust swirling into the Reuters offices nearby.

A giant mushroom cloud of debris rose from the blast site as ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene. Helicopters buzzed overhead and soldiers blocked off entry.

Towering concrete blastwalls protecting the hotel along the Abu Nawas riverside boulevard fell like dominoes. The blast took place across from a park frequented by families and picnickers.

The building has not been a regular hotel for years and largely houses company offices and some media organizations, but some adventurous international tour groups began using it last year.

Zina Tareq, an Iraqi journalist who was in her office at the time of the blast, said she dived under a desk with the five-year-old daughter of a colleague.

"We heard a deafening sound. The ceiling collapsed on us and the windows shattered," she said. Another colleague was wounded by broken glass.

Police said another blast went off just outside the al-Hamra hotel, which has been a hub for many Western journalists since the 2003 U.S. invasion. One Western reporter said the hotel had sustained heavy damage. The Washington Post said three of its Iraqi employees were wounded.

Houses collapsed near the Hamra, and civil defense officials searched for survivors. The blast at the Hamra, like that at the Sheraton, ripped a giant crater in the pavement.

A final bomb appeared to have blown up near the Babylon hotel, which is used by Iraqi travelers and sometimes for government meetings.

The area around the hotel has been hit several times in the past year by mortar or rocket fire aimed at the U.S. embassy, located across the river in the heavily guarded Green Zone.