In Baghdad, suicide car bombers devastated the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations on Monday, killing 42 people and wounding more than two-hundred.

The dead included a U.S. soldier, eight Iraqi policemen and at least 26 Iraqi civilians.

The attacks, carried out in rapid succession over a 45-minute period, were the bloodiest in that country since the start of the U.S. occupation.

Iraqi and U.S. authorities in the Iraqi capital blamed the coordinated quadruple blasts on foreign fighters intent on targeting those they accuse of collaborating with U.S. forces.

But in Washington, Pentagon officials said they believed loyalists of ousted President Saddam Hussein were responsible.

No groups claimed responsibility for the wave of bombings.

The blasts, which echoed the August 19 bombing of the U-N headquarters in the same city, left the Red Cross and other aid agencies examining whether they should decrease their presence in Iraq.