BAGHDAD, 10 October 2007 — Bombings and shootings in central Iraq and Baghdad, including twin suicide truck bomb attacks on leading figures in the fight against Al-Qaeda, killed at least 33 Iraqis yesterday, officials said.
At dawn two suicide bombers blew up fuel-laden trucks against the homes of an Iraqi police chief and a tribal leader in simultaneous bombings in Baiji city in central Salaheddin province, police said.
The attacks just minutes and about a kilometer apart killed 19 people and wounded at least 50 people, police commander Ali Al-Bijwari told AFP. They were aimed at local police chief Col. Saad Al-Nifous and Thamer Ibrahim Atallah, a tribal leader at the forefront of the fight against Al-Qaeda. Both escaped unharmed though members of their families were killed.
Violence also raged in Baghdad, where at least 12 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in four bomb blasts, including one which ripped through crowds in a central square, Iraqi officials said.
In northern Mosul city, the deputy commander of Nineveh police, Brig. Gen. Abdul Aal Thannoun Mubarak was killed when unidentified gunmen attacked his convoy, police said.
