Suicide attacks break calm in Iraq
Two separate suicide attacks in Iraq killed at least 34 people and wounded scores more today, shattering more than a week of relative calm.
A suicide truck bomb exploded outside a residential complex belonging to a state-run oil company in the town of Beiji, about 155 miles north of Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding 80, police said.
Most of those killed were civilians, and at least four were children, police said. The dead also included guards of the oil company and members of a volunteer force.
In Baqouba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad, 10 people were killed and five wounded in a suicide bombing, the US military said. Baqouba police said Dr Ahmed Fuad of Baqouba hospital put the death toll at nine.
Local officials said a bomber wearing an explosives vest targeted a funeral procession for two members of an Awakening Council group - fighters who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq - who had been accidentally killed by US troops during a dawn raid.
The US military said in a statement that a coalition forces raid in Baqouba killed two people, one of whom was revealed later to be a member of such a group, which the US military call "Concerned Local Citizens".
In Beiji the bomber detonated his explosives-rigged pickup truck when Iraqi police and members of a volunteer security force prevented him from entering the gate of the North Oil company compound, police said.
Local authorities said they feared more victims might be buried in the rubble of two buildings damaged by the bombing.
The US military reported that a member of a volunteer group said two people had been in the truck. It gave the casualty figures as 20 dead and 80 wounded, and said the most severely injured were taken to a hospital in Tikrit.
Beiji's police chief, Saad al-Nafous, was sacked, said Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. A curfew was imposed on the city, home to the country's largest refinery, until further notice.
The wounded, bloodied and bandaged were crowded into the rooms and hallways of the Beiji General hospital. Three bodies - one of a child - were laid out on the floor, covered with white sheets.
In the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles north-west of Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit the passing convoy of the governor of Ninevah province, Durayid Kashmoula. He was not injured, but his driver and one of his bodyguards were wounded, said Nineveh police.
Despite today's attacks, there has been a clear reduction of violence in Iraq in the past few months. The US said attacks had fallen by 60% since June.
The Awakening Councils, funded by the US, have been credited with helping reduce the violence.
Meanwhile, the US said troops killed 13 suspected insurgents and detained another 27 yesterday and today in operations targeting al Qaida in Iraq in the central and northern parts of the country.
Separately, eight bodies were found in rivers and on city streets.
Baghdad police found two bullet-riddled bodies in Karkh on the western side of the Tigris River that flows through the capital, and one in Risafa on the eastern side.
To the south, four bodies found floating in the Tigris were taken to the morgue in Kut, 100 miles south east of Baghdad.
In Mosul, one body was found dumped on the streets in an eastern neighbourhood of the city.
In a separate attack, four people were killed in a suicide bombing targeting a funeral procession for two members of an anti-al-Qaida organisation.
The suicide bomber detonated himself among mourners at a funeral in Baqouba, 35 miles north east of Baghdad.
At least four people were killed and 21 were injured.
The funeral was being held for two members of a US-backed anti-al-Qaida in Iraq group.
Meanwhile, the US military said troops killed 13 suspected insurgents and detained another 27 yesterday and today in operations targeting al-Qaida in the central and northern parts of the country.
