Five killed in Iraq bomb attacks
7/9/2008 - 2:41:31 PMTwin blasts from bombs planted outside a bank killed four Iraqi police and one civilian today in the western city of Fallujah, police said.
Fifteen people were injured in the attack in the one-time Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, a police official said. The injured included an Iraqi television cameraman.
Police and witnesses said the first explosion went off at 6:30am today, followed minutes later by a second blast that caused the casualties.
The attack came one day after Iraqi officials stepped up pressure on the US to agree to a specific timeline to withdraw American forces, a sign of the government’s growing confidence as violence falls.
The Iraqi military said the number of terrorist attacks in June declined 85% from the same period a year ago.
An average of 25 terrorist attacks took place each day in June, compared to 160 during the same month in 2007, said Iraqi army spokesman Major General Qassim al-Mousawi during a press conference. He did not provide details on the individual attacks included in the figures.
Assailants killed a policeman today in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Mosul, where many insurgents are believed to have relocated after facing intense military pressure in Baghdad and other urban centres.
Police in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, said workers who were rebuilding a primary school discovered 22 bodies, most of them under concrete in a playing field. A police official, who earlier said only five bodies were discovered, said the remains were believed to have been buried more than one year ago.
Relatives of missing people were summoned to the site on Tuesday. Those identified included a Muslim cleric whose wife recognised his clothes.
Ramadi was a stronghold of the Sunni-led insurgency, but violence there has dropped sharply since Sunni tribal leaders and their fighters formed an alliance with the US military.