18 killed in Iraq bombings
2009-03-23 16:23
Baghdad - Eighteen people were killed and at least 20 wounded in three bomb attacks apparently targeting Iraqi Sunni tribesmen who have joined with Iraqi and US forces to fight insurgents in central and western Iraq, police and media said on Monday.
Two consecutive blasts rocked a market in the Nasr we al-Salam district of Abu Ghraib, 25km from Baghdad, Shakir Faza, an official with the local police, told German Press Agency dpa.
He said at least 10 people had been killed in the blasts and that at least 11 had been wounded. "Most of the casualties were from the Awakening Councils," Faza said.
The Awakening Councils are Sunni tribe members who have joined forces with Iraqi and US forces to fight Sunni insurgents in exchange for training, funding, and weapons.
Earlier on Monday at least eight people, including two children, were killed in a bomb attack on the house of Sheikh Imad al-Halbusi, leader of an Awakening Council in the western province of Falluja, Baghdad's Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.
Nine other people were wounded in that attack, VOI said.
- DPA