At least 41 people were been killed in three separate explosions near prominent Baghdad hotels including the Sheraton Ishtar Hotel, Babylon Hotel and Hamra Hotel. These hotels are reportedly popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors. The attacks were seen as another blow to the credibility of an Iraqi government struggling to plug security loopholes that have seen many attacks since August 2009.1

• 1. ‘Death toll in Baghdad blasts rises to 41’, Khaleej Times, January 26, 2010 at http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2...