Suicide car bomb injures four near Kirkuk

A suicide car bomb exploded at a checkpoint manned by Sunni tribesmen in northern Iraq today, wounding four of the men, police said.

The attack took place around 11am near Hawija, about 30 miles south-west of Kirkuk. The area, long a Sunni militant stronghold, has seen an increase in violence as militants flee northwards away from US-Iraqi offensives around Baghdad and its surrounding belts.

But last November, Hawija hosted what the US military called the largest Sunni volunteer effort since the Iraq war began. Nearly 6,000 Sunni residents joined forces with the Americans to man checkpoints across the area and oust al Qaida-inspired militants from their home towns.

Four of those security volunteers were wounded in today’s car bombing, said Brigadier Sarhad Qadir of the Kiruk police department. One of the men suffered severe injuries, he said.

Meanwhile, two Iraqi Army officers were severely wounded in a drive-by shooting as they drove to work through western Baghdad, police said.

Gunmen opened fire on the officers’ car in the predominantly Sunni Yarmouk neighbourhood around 9am.