Explosion kills 8 Iraqi workers

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A bomb exploded alongside a group of Iraqi men waiting for work in eastern Baghdad today, killing at least eight and wounding more than 50, as a new video from kidnappers threatened to kill two German hostages if Germany fails to stop cooperating with the Iraqi government.

Witnesses said a man placed a bag full of explosives near a cart that sold tea to the workers as they waited for daily construction jobs, said Col. Ahmed Abboud, chief of police in the New Baghdad area where the explosion occurred.

The attack happened around 7 a.m. at an intersection crowded with bystanders near a Sunni Muslim mosque.

Kidnappers threatened to kill Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich if Germany does not close its embassy in Iraq, withdraw all the German companies from Iraq and stop cooperating with the Iraqi government within three days.

The videotape aired on Al-Jazeera television showed Braeunlich speaking and clasping his hands in front of him as if begging. No audio was heard.