Over 50 killed in Iraqi bomb attacks
BAGHDAD. July 19. KAZINFORM -- A new wave of bomb attacks on Sunday in the western outskirts of Baghdad and western part of the country targeted the government-backed anti-al-Qaida paramilitary groups killed 51 and wounded some 50 others, the police said. Kazinform refers to Xinhua.
The deadliest attack took place in the morning when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of Awakening Council members, or Sahwa in Arabic, who lined up to collect their salaries in Balasim village in al-Radwaniyah area.
The blast killed 43 and wounded some 40 others, most of them were Sahwa members and several others were Iraqi army soldiers.
Another suicide attack occurred at about local time 10:30 a.m. in the city of al-Qaim in the western province of Anbar, some 330 km west of Baghdad, killing four Sahwa leaders who were holding a meeting at their headquarters in the city and wounding seven others.
The bomber, disguised in police uniform, shot the guards at the entrance of the headquarters and then blew himself up.
The guards fired back but the bomber managed to hit the building which is close to the entrance and the powerful blast destroyed part of the headquarters building, including the hall of the meeting, killing the four leaders inside.
In the afternoon, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others were wounded by multiple explosions when they were trying to defuse bombs planted in the house of a former Awakening Council group member in a village in Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad.
In a separate incident, Amer al-Timimi, a former Awakening Council group member, was killed when a magnetic bomb attached to his car went off in Abu Ghraib area in the afternoon. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.