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Explosions claim 23, including 13 policemen, in Iraq's Anbar
Source: Agencies |
December 31, 2009, Thursday
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STAGGERED explosions yesterday killed 23 people, including 13 policemen, and wounded a provincial governor in Iraq, officials said.
It was the worst violence in months to hit the western province of Anbar that was formerly al-Qaida's top stronghold in Iraq.
The strategically important Anbar province was once the heartland of support for al-Qaida-linked militants, before many insurgents turned on the terror organization and joined forces with United States soldiers and the Iraqi government. The governor is the most senior Sunni leader to be attacked since then.
While violence in Iraq has dropped considerably since the height of the conflict in 2006 and 2007, a reinvigorated insurgency in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, could pose a serious risk to the country's stability as it prepares for elections in March.
The bombings are also the latest in a string of attacks targeting government buildings and installations in the country.
Police official Lieutenant Colonel Imad al-Fahdawi said two bombs exploded in Anbar's capital of Ramadi, 115 kilometers west of Baghdad. He said a suicide bomber in a car caused the first blast near a checkpoint on the main road near the provincial administration buildings.
Governor Qassim al-Fahdawi, the deputy police chief and other officials came to inspect the damage, the police official said, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated a vest full of explosives nearby.
The deputy police chief was killed and the governor and other officials wounded, Lieutenant Colonel al-Fahdawi said.
A doctor at the main hospital in Ramadi, Ahmed Abid Mohammed, said 23 people had been killed and 57 injured.
It was the worst violence in months to hit the western province of Anbar that was formerly al-Qaida's top stronghold in Iraq.
The strategically important Anbar province was once the heartland of support for al-Qaida-linked militants, before many insurgents turned on the terror organization and joined forces with United States soldiers and the Iraqi government. The governor is the most senior Sunni leader to be attacked since then.
While violence in Iraq has dropped considerably since the height of the conflict in 2006 and 2007, a reinvigorated insurgency in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, could pose a serious risk to the country's stability as it prepares for elections in March.
The bombings are also the latest in a string of attacks targeting government buildings and installations in the country.
Police official Lieutenant Colonel Imad al-Fahdawi said two bombs exploded in Anbar's capital of Ramadi, 115 kilometers west of Baghdad. He said a suicide bomber in a car caused the first blast near a checkpoint on the main road near the provincial administration buildings.
Governor Qassim al-Fahdawi, the deputy police chief and other officials came to inspect the damage, the police official said, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated a vest full of explosives nearby.
The deputy police chief was killed and the governor and other officials wounded, Lieutenant Colonel al-Fahdawi said.
A doctor at the main hospital in Ramadi, Ahmed Abid Mohammed, said 23 people had been killed and 57 injured.
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