Iraq bombings
June 22, 2013
A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shiite mosque in the village of Sabaa al-Bour, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) north of Baghdad killing 14 and wounding 32 on Saturday, police said. Five of the victims died in ambulances on their way to the nearest hospital in Baghdad.
Earlier, a suicide bomber drove his car into a police patrol in al-Athba village near the northern city of Mosul, a police officer said. Three civilians and a policeman were killed, and six other people were wounded.
Gunmen on motorcycles shot at a civilian car carrying four off-duty policemen in Tuz Khormato, 210 kilometres north of the capital. Three people died and one was injured according to the police. Police at a checkpoint in the city of Samarra, 95 kilometers north of Baghdad, were attacked by gunmen. Two died and four were wounded.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attacks, but the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda and other Sunni groups have targeted Shiite communities and the security forces in an effort to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-led government.
Provincial elections
Separately, election officials said a partial count of ballots for provincial elections held last Thursday in Sunni-dominated Anbar and Ninevah provinces showed Sunni parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi's United bloc leading with the largest number of votes in both provinces.
jm/kmw (AP, AFP)