Truck bomb kills 40 outside of an Iraq mosque

A fuel tanker rigged with explosives killed 40 people when it blew up near a Sunni mosque in western Iraq on Saturday, a day after the mosque’s imam had criticized al-Qaida militants, police and residents said.

The bomb exploded in a market in the town of Habaniya in the restive province of Anbar, where U.S. forces are battling Sunni Arab insurgent groups, including al-Qaida.

Local police said they believed the mosque was the target, adding that the market had been destroyed and 64 people wounded, according to Reuters. Women and children were among the dead, they said. The Associated Press reported 35 dead.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on battles between Sunni groups in Anbar province west of Baghdad.

Militants have increased attacks against Sunni leaders who support the government and denounce violence.

Local residents said the imam of the mosque had criticized Sunni al-Qaida during Friday prayers. Some Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar are leading a campaign to fight al-Qaida, which is deeply entrenched in the province.

Habaniya lies 50 miles west of the Baghdad.

Explosions rock Baghdad
In Baghdad, more than 20 loud explosions in quick succession rocked a southern district of the capital after night fell. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear and the U.S. military said it had no information on the explosions.

U.S. and Iraqi troops are conducting a major security crackdown in Baghdad aimed at stemming sectarian bloodshed that threatens to pitch the country towards all-out civil war.

“The cause of the explosions ... earlier came from indirect fire landing into the red zone. At the moment we do not know where it is coming from,” the U.S. military said in a statement, referring to the area outside the international Green Zone where most U.S. officials and Iraqi government offices are based.

Indirect fire is a term used by the U.S. military for mortar rounds, rockets and artillery.

On Monday, two suicide bombers in nearby Ramadi killed 11 people when they targeted the house of Sattar al-Buzayi, who has led the anti-al Qaida drive, which is backed by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and the U.S. military.

Insurgents earlier stormed an Iraqi police checkpoint near Baghdad airport, killing eight policemen in a bold challenge to a U.S.-backed security crackdown in the capital aimed at halting sectarian violence.

President Bush is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq to help with the Baghdad crackdown. Most are heading for the capital, but 4,000 will also be sent to Anbar to try to quell the insurgency raging there.

‘A brazen attack’
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed optimism about the 10-day old security plan, saying U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed around 400 suspected militants since it started.

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