Suicide attacks kill 13 in Iraq

Suicide bombers killed 13 people in a pair of attacks today around the Iraqi Sunni city of Ramadi, in what local officials said was part of a power struggle between al-Qaida and tribes that have broken with the terror network.

In all, at least 68 people were killed or found dead across Iraq today, police said. They included the bullet-riddled bodies of 30 men found in Baghdad – the apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

All but two of them were found in west Baghdad, including 17 in the Amil neighbourhood where Sunni politicians have complained of renewed attacks by Shiite militiamen, according to a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release those details.

The first of the Ramadi area attacks occurred about noon in a public market on the north-west outskirts of the city, killing eight people and wounding 13, said police Col. Tariq Youssef.

About 15 minutes later, police at a nearby checkpoint spotted a second car bomb and opened fire, but the driver was able to detonate the vehicle, Youssef said. Five people, including two policemen, were killed and 12 others were wounded, Youssef said.

The attacks occurred in areas controlled by the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of Sunni tribes formed last year to drive al Qaida from their territory. Council officials blamed the attacks on al Qaida.

“They committed this crime because we have identified their hideouts and we are chasing them,” said Sheikh Jabbar Naif al-Dulaimi.

In a web statement today, an al Qaida front organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq, warned Sunnis against joining the government security forces – a move supported by the Salvation Council.

“We tell every father, mother, wife or brother who does not want to lose a relative to advise them not to approach the apostates and we swear to God that we will use every possible means to strike at the infidels and the renegades,” the group said.

The Islamic State also claimed responsibility today for a series of attacks that killed 34 people – including six US soldiers and a Russian photojournalist who died in a massive roadside bombing in Baqouba.

The 34 also included the police chief of Samarra, Col Jalil Nahi Hassoun, who was killed yesterday in an attack on police headquarters. He was buried today following a tearful procession by police in blue uniform who escorted the flag draped coffin as it was driven through the Sunni city in the bed of a white pickup truck.

Also today, the military announced a US soldier had been killed by small-arms fire in western Baghdad the day before, bringing to nine the number of troops who died yesterday.

The security situation in the capital figured high in talks between prime minister Nouri Maliki and US President George Bush, who today held a video conference, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Mr Maliki told Bush of the need to maintain cooperation between US and Iraqi forces as they continue their crackdown, which is intended to end the chaos and violence in Baghdad, the statement said.

The White House confirmed that Bush spoke with Maliki.

In other violence, a mortar attack killed five people in Baghdad’s mixed Baiyaa neighbourhood, where more than 30 people were slain in a car bombing the day before.

In northern Iraq, gunmen attacked an Iraqi military checkpoint at the town of Baaj, killing two soldiers, two police officers and a civilian, police said.