Iraq bomb attacks kill 18

A co-ordinated string of four bomb attacks within seven minutes killed at least 18 people and wounded 39 in northern Iraq today, while a Baghdad car bomb injured 28, officials said, ending a relative lull in violence that had fallen over the country in recent days.

Hundreds of US and Iraqi soldiers descended on the remote northern city of Tal Afar near the Syrian border today, launching a major operation against insurgents following weeks of attacks against Iraqi security services there, military officials said.