13 killed in Iraq bombings
A roadside bomb that missed a passing US military convoy killed seven Iraqis and wounded one south of Baghdad today, police and hospital sources said, while a suicide car bomb at police headquarters in Tikrit killed six.
The victims in the roadside bomb explosion were travelling in a minibus in Yussifiyah, 9 miles south of Baghdad, when the blast occurred, said the director of the town’s hospital, Dawoud al-Taie.
Little other information was known about the Tikrit blast. US military spokesman Maj. Neal O’Brien said six were killed, while police sources said 12 were wounded.
“As the Iraqi police continue to get stronger, and continue to pose a threat to the insurgents and terrorists, they will be targeted,” O’Brien said.
The killings were the latest in a series of attacks by insurgents who are trying to disrupt a landmark January 30 national election. The last two days have seen a new surge of attacks, with four roadside bombings and suicide attacks on Iraqi and American forces yesterday.
At dawn today, an explosion tore through an oil pipeline between Kirkuk and a refinery in Beiji. An official with the Northern Oil Company said the pipeline was destroyed and would take five days to repair.
The official said an explosion hit another oil pipeline in the Zegheitoun area, 34 miles south-west of Kirkuk, that runs to Beiji.
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted Iraq’s oil infrastructure, denying the country much-needed reconstruction money.
