Iraqi officials say 17 people were killed when three car bombs went off near Baghdad hotels that house foreign journalists.
They say several other people were wounded by the blasts near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels. The third explosion was the largest and was videotaped by reporters at the scene.
Meanwhile, Iraq's election commission says it is examining votes in the province of Ninevah to determine if enough people there voted against the country's draft constitution to veto it.
Election officials say their audit shows that more than two-thirds of voters in two predominantly Sunni Arab provinces Anbar and Salahaddin voted no in the referendum. But to fail, a third province must vote against the draft by the same margin.
The constitution was approved in most other Iraqi provinces by an overwhelming majority.
