Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Police chief and tribal leader targeted in suicide bombing
Security
(Al Jazeera) - Two suicide lorry bombs, separately targeting a police chief and a tribal leader, have killed at least 22 people in Baiji, about 200km north of Baghdad, police said. At least 30 people were injured when the lorries, loaded with barrels of petrol, exploded within minutes of each other at about 6am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday, police officials said.
In Baghdad, the capital, at least 12 more people were killed and 58 wounded in four separate explosions, including one which ripped through crowds in a central square, Iraqi officials and police said.Women and children were among the dead, the official said.
Many victims of Tuesday's twin attacks in Baiji were also women and children, police officials said. The first bomb went off outside the home of Colonel Saad al-Nuffous, an Iraqi police chief. The officer escaped unharmed, but his house was partially damaged, Ali al-Bijwari, a police commander, said.
Minutes later, a second bomber detonated his explosives outside the home of Thamer Ibrahim Atallah, a leader of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, a coalition of tribes established to fight al-Qaeda in the Tikrit area. Atallah escaped the attack, but the identities of the other casualties were not immediately known. US forces were deployed in the area after the blasts, al-Bijwari said.
In Baghdad, the capital, at least 12 more people were killed and 58 wounded in four separate explosions, including one which ripped through crowds in a central square, Iraqi officials and police said.Women and children were among the dead, the official said.
Many victims of Tuesday's twin attacks in Baiji were also women and children, police officials said. The first bomb went off outside the home of Colonel Saad al-Nuffous, an Iraqi police chief. The officer escaped unharmed, but his house was partially damaged, Ali al-Bijwari, a police commander, said.
Minutes later, a second bomber detonated his explosives outside the home of Thamer Ibrahim Atallah, a leader of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, a coalition of tribes established to fight al-Qaeda in the Tikrit area. Atallah escaped the attack, but the identities of the other casualties were not immediately known. US forces were deployed in the area after the blasts, al-Bijwari said.
Last Thursday, a roadside bomb near Samarra killed Sheikh Maawia Naji Jebara, the leader of the Salaheddin Awakening Council. The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement posted on the internet.
Labels: Baiji, Colonel Saad al-Nuffous, Islamic State of Iraq, Salaheddin Awakening Council, Sheikh Maawia Naji Jebara, suicide lorry bombs, Thamer Ibrahim Atallah
