A four-wheel-drive vehicle exploded before 9 a.m. outside a gate to the ''Green Zone'' - the heavily fortified section of central Baghdad that houses the interim government offices and the U.S. and British embassies. The vehicle, reportedly packed with artillery shells, detonated near a recruiting center for the Iraqi security services.
Car bombers have set off nearly 40 bombs since Sept. 1, often at recruiting stations of the nascent Iraqi military forces.
Officials have tried to protect recruits by moving recruiting stations and erecting barriers in front of them. Many of the recruits on Monday stood behind a large concrete blast wall, but the explosion outside the Green Zone still killed at least 15 and wounded 81, an official of Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital told The Associated Press.
Another bomber struck less than an hour later, on Saadoun Street, a main artery and commercial strip in the heart of Baghdad. Witnesses said the bomber was targeting a U.S. convoy. No U.S. personnel were injured by the blast, which killed at least two civilians and wounded 20, according to hospital officials.
Two vehicles exploded in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. In the first explosion, a car exploded in the Wadi Hajar neighborhood, near the back of a primary school. The explosion killed three people and wounded 11, including six children, according to hospital officials.
Witnesses reported that a young man standing near the car screamed that it was going to explode.
''He repeated this phrase several times. Some people ran away, but the others who did not respond quickly were among the victims,'' said Hamza Khalaf, 30, who escaped unharmed.
The second car bomb Monday afternoon in Mosul targeted a U.S. convoy. One soldier received minor injuries, according to an officer on the scene.
Elsewhere in Iraq, two Indonesian women reportedly were released by armed militants, while another two hostages reportedly were executed. Neither report could be independently confirmed.
Television footage showed the women, kidnapped last week along with six Iraqis and two Lebanese men, wearing traditional black robes with their faces uncovered. Each was given a large green Quran by a man standing outside the camera's view. The condition of the eight other hostages remained unknown.
Al-Jazeera satellite network broadcast footage of the apparent execution of two hostages, a Turk and an Iraqi. The broadcast showed two men seated in front of several armed men. The footage showed the men being shot in the head after kneeling in front of a ditch.
In Samarra, U.S. military commanders fanned out across the city to meet local government officials and residents. A joint team of U.S. and Iraqi engineers began to survey the damage to determine what was needed to restore services to the city. Many parts of Samarra were still without electricity, but the water treatment plant reopened Monday evening.
Military leaders said they hoped to restore full power within a few days, but one military engineer said it could take as long as two weeks.
''Now starts the work to get this city back on its feet,'' said Maj. Gen. John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division.
The U.S. military has earmarked about $1.5 million for infrastructure projects including schools, roads and water. Although the military used mosque loudspeakers to tell residents it was safe to come out of their houses, the streets were still largely empty Monday. A few people who ventured out carried white flags or T-shirts to signal to U.S. snipers that they weren't a threat. Several cars had white flags hanging out their windows.
Samarra Hospital remained largely abandoned; many doctors had not yet returned to their posts. U.S. officials vowed to clean and sterilize the facility, which was covered by dust and dirt after clashes in the area.
The U.S. military estimated about 127 insurgents and 20 civilians were killed during the fighting.
On Monday, the Army announced that Sgt. Michael A. Uvanni, 27, of Rome, N.Y., was killed by sniper fire during Oct. 1 operations in Samarra.
