Twenty killed in fire on tour bus

A tour bus caught fire on a highway near the northern German city of Hannover on Tuesday night, killing 20 people, after a passenger reportedly sneaked a cigarette, police said.

Survivors told authorities the fire broke out in the bathroom of the bus as it drove down the A2 highway after a person apparently smoked a cigarette there, police spokesman Stefan Wittke said.

Still, he said it was too early to rule out a mechanical problem with the bus as the cause of the blaze that also injured at least 13 people.

The bus had 39 primarily elderly passengers and the driver aboard, according to the Hannover-based company that owns it, Mommeyer.

The bus apparently pulled off into an emergency lane before it was engulfed in flames, but many people were unable to get off in time, the Bild newspaper reported on its Web site.

Baghdad

Bystanders killed in targeted attack

An improvised bomb exploded Tuesday near the car of an Iraqi official, missing him but killing two people and injuring several others, police said. It was the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts against Iraqi authorities.

The attack on Ahmed Shyaa al-Barak, head of a government property and claims office, occurred amid bombing and shooting attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul that left nine people dead and dozens injured.

Violence in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level since 2004, but U.S. military officials are apprehensive about a trend in which assailants target politicians, journalists and police.

Barak was a member of the 25-person Iraqi Governing Council established by American occupation authorities after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion. The council was disbanded after a U.S.-backed Iraqi government took office the following year.