A suicide bomber targeting a military convoy carrying an army general killed at least four persons and injured 22 in Iraq's northern city of Mosul while a twin-bomb attack outside a bank in Fallujah left six dead and 20 injured, police said Wednesday, reported dpa.
A car bomb packed with explosive hit the motorcade of the operational commander of Nineveh province, General Riyad Tawfik, in east Mosul, a security official told the Voices of Iraq VOI news agency.
Four civilians were killed and 22 were injured, including seven of the general's guards, said Khaled Abdel-Sattar, the spokesman for the Nineveh operations command.
It is not clear whether General Tawfik was present when the attack occurred. While VOI quoted Abdel-Sattar as saying he was not in the convoy when the blast happened, other media reports said he escaped unharmed.
Militants from al-Qaeda in Iraq are believed to be regrouping in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh and Iraq's third largest city, after they were driven out of Baghdad and other Sunni areas.
Iraqi and US troops have been embroiled in an offensive targeting Sunni insurgents since May.
In western Anbar province, a bomb went off outside a bank in central Fallujah, 45 kilometres west of Baghdad, but did not cause any casualties. Police and crowds who gathered at the scene were then hit by a second bomb.
Four policemen and two civilians were killed and 20 injured, reported the Dubai-based al-Arabya news broadcaster citing Iraqi police sources.
Last month, the US military indefinitely delayed a scheduled transfer of security responsibilities in Anbar to Iraqi troops, citing bad weather. dpa sf ds ms