Up to 18 die as wave of suicide attacks hit Iraq

A STRING of four bomb attacks within seven minutes killed at least 18 people and wounded 39 in northern Iraq yesterday, while a Baghdad carbomb injured 28, officials said.

Hundreds of US and Iraqi soldiers descended on the northern city of Tal Afar yesterday, launching a major operation against insurgents after weeks of attacks against Iraqi security services there, military officials said.

Two US Marines died on Monday after separate roadside bombings near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said. A US soldier died of non-combat related injuries on Sunday at Camp Dublin, near Baghdad International Airport, the military added.

The attacks in and around the northern town of Hawija appeared co-ordinated and aimed at checkpoints manned by members of Iraq’s fledgling army, which has been a constant target of insurgents opposed to the country’s new US-backed government. The first explosion, caused by a roadside bomb, rocked Hawija, about 40 miles south-west of Kirkuk. Soon after, three suicide bombers waiting in lines of cars at army checkpoints to the west and north of Hawija struck in quick succession.

In the deadliest attack, 10 civilians and one soldier were killed at a checkpoint in Dibis, two miles west of Hawija, army Lt Faleh Ahmed said. Three soldiers and two civilians were killed at a checkpoint in Bagara, three miles west of Hawija. Two soldiers died in a suicide attack on the Aziziya checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hawija.

The Tal Afar operation comes a day after US and Iraqi military commanders met with nearly 80 local tribal elders and agreed to “work together to end violence” and rebuild the ancient city’s police and local government services, the military said in a statement.

More than 860 people have died during the less than six-week period since Iraq’s new Shi’ite-led government was announced.