Iraqis wounded in massive car bomb are carried away from scene, Tuesday morning

Iraqi authorities say bomb attacks across the country killed more than 50 people Tuesday.

The most deadly blast was north of Baghdad, where a roadside bomb killed 23 soldiers.

A car bomb outside a bank in Baghdad killed 14 people, including several soldiers. The bank was crowded with soldiers drawing their salary payments on the first day of the month.

The British military says a mortar attack killed a British soldier at a base in Basra. In another incident, a roadside bomb killed an American soldier south of Baghdad.

In other developments, the governor of Najaf says gunmen kidnapped 45 residents of his predominantly Shi'ite province as they traveled through a Sunni Arab area.

Authorities say sectarian violence has forced 20,000 Iraqis to leave their homes during the past 10 days. Over the past six months, sectarian strife has displaced more than 180,000 people.