DIWANIYAH: Two car bombs Tuesday ripped through a group of Iraqi police near the home of the local governor in Iraq's central city of Diwaniyah, killing 25 people and wounding more than 30, officials said.
A medical source at the main hospital in Diwaniyah, 160 kilometres south of Baghdad, said most of the casualties were policemen.
“Two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously near the governor's home in Diwaniyah, killing 25 people and wounding more than 30,” a defence ministry official told AFP.
It was not immediately known if Salam Hussein Alwan, governor of the province — also named Diwaniyah — was among the casualties.
The hospital source said they had received 20 bodies and admitted 35 wounded.
“Most of the casualties are policemen,” he told AFP.
Casualty figures often differ in the immediate aftermath of an attack in Iraq, due to the ensuing chaos and confusion.
Attacks against government officials have dramatically risen in recent months, with Iraqi leaders still bickering over key security positions that have remained unfilled since elections in March last year, and the formation of a government more than eight months later.
Tuesday's explosions came a day after a string of bombings and gun attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, including a blast next to a French embassy car that wounded seven Iraqis. Four French security personnel inside the armoured vehicle escaped unhurt.
The dead in Monday's attacks included an army officer and a policeman who were shot dead in different parts of Baghdad, and the mayor of the town of Al-Shar in central Baquba province, killed by gunmen who raided his home.
Violence is down in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when tens of thousands of people were killed in clashes between Sunni and Shia Arabs and in insurgent attacks, but attacks have risen since the beginning of this year.
The rise in violence comes with only months to go before US troops, in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, are due to complete a pullout under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
Eight US soldiers have been killed on duty so far this month.
An al Qaeda-style raid by gunmen against government offices in the central city of Baquba on June 14 killed seven people.
Private security firm AKE Group said this month that attacks have been on the rise since the start of the year, with violent incidents averaging more than 10 a day in May, up from four to five a day in January.
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