Bombs kill 12 in north and west Iraq: police
Twelve people were killed by bombings in northern and western Iraq on Thursday, including seven in a building used by a Sunni-backed political group in Diyala province, said police.
The violence is a reflection of the deep political and ethnic divisions that remain in Iraq despite the security gains over the past 18 months.
Diyala experienced violence earlier this week when Iraqi security forces and an Iranian opposition group living in a
camp in the province engaged in two days of clashes that left seven people dead.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh confirmed today that the seven were killed when Iraqi forces seized control of the Iranian group’s camp, reversing two days of denials that anyone had been killed.
Police in western Iraq, meanwhile, said five people died and 39 were injured when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle in Qaim, near the border with Syria.
A police official said the bomber was targeting a police station, but concrete barriers prevented him from reaching it.
“There are many civilians under the rubble. Many houses were destroyed completely, and the police imposed a vehicle and motorcycle ban,” he said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with the media.
Daily attacks have continued throughout Iraq, but the US military warns that the greatest threat to the country’s security is tension between the Kurdish-ruled north and the Arab-dominated central government.
