60 killed in Iraq university blast

At least 110 others are injured in the car bomb explosions outside the Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

At least 79 Iraqis were killed and 190 wounded in four separate blasts in Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraqi police said.

In the latest attack, at least 60 Iraqi university students were killed in a car bomb in eastern Baghdad, al-Arabiya TV channel reported, citing hospital sources.

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At least 110 students were wounded in the bomb, the sources said.

Al-Iraqiyah state TV reported that extremists had detonated two car bombs outside the Mustansiriya University in Palestine street.

An attacker wearing an explosives belt had also blown himself next to a group of students, the report added.

Earlier on Tuesday, two bombs were detonated in quick succession near a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding up to 70.

Another city-centre blast, reported to have been a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol, killed two police officers and two civilians and wounded at least 10.

Baghdad university staff have previously been kidnapped and killed by militants.

The chairman of the parliamentary committee on education and training, Alaa Makki, reported that armed men had kidnapped the vice president of the Technical University of Baghdad, Abdul Samia al-Janabi.

Pan-Arab news reports also said 25 bodies were found overnight across Baghdad. The bodies showed signs of torture.

The latest deaths happened as the UN stated that a total of 34,452 civilians were killed in the country last year and 36,685 wounded as a result of sectarian violence and unrest.

In an update published in Geneva on Tuesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, UNAMI issued figures for November and December, which showed 6,376 civilians were killed and 6,875 were wounded.

The report said the situation remained "particularly bad" in Baghdad where most bodies bore signs of torture.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the figures "tragic" - but blamed "internal and external terrorists", adding: "It is not British or American soldiers who are killing them."