Three powerful bombs rattled three hotels that house many foreigner journalists and contractors in central Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 11 people, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

"The three bombs exploded separately in front of Sheraton, Palestine and al-Sadir, and the three hotels house lots of foreigners," the source said, adding that at least 18 others were wounded.

"The second bomb, which blew up in front of the Palestine Hotel which houses many foreign journalists, is the most powerful. A suicide bomber riding a truck carrying cement tank blew himself up about one minute after the first blast," the source said.

The three hotels are close to each other, all located near the Firdous Square in central Baghdad, where a Saddam Hussein's statue was torn down after the city was overrun by US forces in the 2003 Iraq war.

Local television said the wounded included three foreign journalists.

Huge plumes of black smoke and fire could be seen from the square, witnesses said.

The latest violence came as Iraq's Anbar province vetoed the draft constitution with a resounding 96 percent, bringing to two the number of Iraqi provinces which said no to the US-backed charter.

Salahudin province has vetoed the draft with 81 percent.

Anbar's rejection made Nineveh, the third Sunni-dominated province, become the swing province which can decide the final fate of the US-backed charter.

Under Iraq's interim constitution, if two thirds of the voters in any three provinces out of 18 Iraqi provinces say no to the draft, the charter will be vetoed, and parliament dissolved.

Source: Xinhua