World in brief: Car bomb kills eight, injures 64

A car bomb exploded in the city’s busiest intersection Friday, killing at least eight people and injuring 64.

Like a similar explosion last month at a popular pet market, the blast at Tahrir Square came on a day when many Iraqis were running errands and shopping.

A 6-year-old boy and two teenagers were among those killed in the latest explosion, not far from one of the heavily guarded entrances to the Green Zone, police said. Officials provided conflicting numbers, with some putting the death toll as high as 14.

Nairobi, Kenya

Millionaire may unseat incumbent

A millionaire opposition leader who cast himself as a champion of the poor appeared poised to unseat the incumbent Kenyan president, according to preliminary official results of the election and media tallies Friday.

The race pitted President Mwai Kibaki against his former ally, Raila Odinga, and marked the first time an incumbent had faced a credible challenge in Kenya’s four decades of independence from Britain.

The race focused largely on corruption, with both candidates vowing to end graft and tribal favoritism. By Friday evening, the electoral commission had announced preliminary results in only 68 of Kenya’s 210 constituencies. They showed Odinga with a lead of 1,665,714 to Kibaki’s 1,169,631. Media tallies said to be based on actual results showed Odinga with a more commanding lead.

Jerusalem

Off-duty soldiers killed while hiking

Two off-duty Israeli soldiers were fatally shot by Palestinian gunmen Friday while hiking in the West Bank, the army said.

The men, wearing civilian clothes but armed, were fired upon by in a rural area near the town of Hebron. The Israelis returned fire, the army said, killing one Palestinian and wounding another. An Israeli woman hiking with the soldiers escaped and summoned authorities.

The military identified the dead as Sgt. David Rubin, 21, and Pvt. Ahikam Amihai, 20, both residents of Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement next door to Hebron, where tensions between Jews and Palestinians often run high.