07/02/2005

Two suicide bomb attacks target Iraq police

In the worst attack by suicide bombers since the elections held last week, it is feared that at least 26 have been killed in two separate attacks.

News agencies have reported that 14 were killed and tens of people wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a police station in Baquba. In Mosul a suicide bomber killed 12 and wounded several others when he detonated a bomb after attracting the attention of nearby people including police officers outside a police station close to a teaching hospital.

It is understood that the Iraqi wing Al Qaeda, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack in Mosul.

There had been a reduction in the level of violence against the Iraqi security forces, a favourite target for insurgents and extremist militant groups opposed to the holding of elections in Iraq. However, there have been several more adductions of foreign nationals working in Iraq. In Baghdad on Sunday, four Egyptian workers were abducted, and last week an Italian journalist was taken also near the capital. The journalist's captors have threatened his life, if troops are not withdrawn.

Elsewhere, in northern Baghdad a US soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded.

A police station in Mosul was also reported to have come under fire, possibly from artillery.

(SP/MB)

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