Militants target Iraq security forces in checkpoint attacks

 
Militants killed at least 22 members of the security forces in Iraq on Tuesday, mostly in attacks on police and military checkpoints, with the western Anbar province bearing the brunt of the violence, sources said.              

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the suicide and gun attacks, but Sunni Muslim insurgents, including al Qaeda, have regularly targeted security personnel and others working for the Shi'ite-led government.                     

At least 60 members of the security forces were also wounded in the attacks, the sources said.                

In the town of Rutba, 360 km (225 miles) west of Baghdad, a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives blew himself up near a police checkpoint killing at least five, while gunmen launched a series of attacks against police checkpoints in the town killing at least four, police sources said.           

In the west of Ramadi, gunmen in vehicles attacked police and army checkpoints along the main highway that links Baghdad to Jordan and Syria, killing at least seven, police said, adding that clashes were still continuing.                  

A suicide bomber driving a tanker truck packed with explosives attacked a police checkpoint in the town of Jurf al-Sakhar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, killing four, police sources said.                                

Violence in Iraq, which had eased after reaching a peak in 2006-2007, when al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate was forced underground, is now rising again, with more than 7,000 civilians killed this year, according to monitoring group Iraq Body Count.         


REUTERS