22 people killed in two Baghdad suicide blasts

updated 3:55 p.m. ET Dec. 7, 2007

BAGHDAD - A woman with explosives strapped to her body attacked the office of a Sunni group that had turned against al-Qaida in Iraq — one of two suicide bombings in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad that left at least 22 people dead Friday.

An Iraqi official claimed the woman was seeking revenge for her two sons who were killed fighting for al-Qaida.

The two brazen attacks were the latest in a series of al-Qaida assaults against members of the new “awakening groups” — mostly Sunnis including former insurgents who have begun cooperating with the Americans to rid their communities of extremists.

The first attack occurred at midmorning in Muqdadiyah when a woman detonated explosives in front of the building housing the office of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, a Sunni insurgent group whose members in the area switched sides this year and joined the fight against al-Qaida.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Tamimi said 15 people were killed and 20 wounded. U.S. officials put the toll at 12 dead and 17 wounded.

Later Friday, a suicide car bomber struck at a checkpoint about 10 miles away, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and three members of a local anti-al-Qaida group, Iraqi army Capt. Saad al-Zuhairi said.

Al-Zuhairi, who was about 150 yards away, said the driver detonated his explosives when the guards asked to search the car.

Ex-Iraqi soldier describes blast
Ibrahim Bajalan, the head of the Diyala provincial council, said the female bomber was a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party whose two sons joined al-Qaida and were killed by Iraqi security forces.

“She wanted to avenge the killing of her two sons,” he told The Associated Press, quoting what he said were reports from officials at the scene.

Jassim Jerad, a former Iraqi soldier who was injured in the Muqdadiyah bombing, said he saw a woman approaching the offices, then felt the force of the blast.

“I fell down, but stood up quickly to save my son, who was screaming,” he said from his hospital bed, while his 6-year-old son wept nearby.

Kuudur Alwan, a member of the anti-al-Qaida group, said he was buying groceries near the targeted building when he suddenly felt “heat hitting my chest and right leg.”

“I limped toward the building to see several of my awakening colleagues dead and their bodies left on the ground,” he said from his hospital bed in Jaluala.

Al-Qaida front group threatens further attacks
The attacks occurred three days after an al-Qaida front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, posted a message on an extremist Web site announcing a new campaign against members of awakening groups, which the U.S. credits with helping reduce violence in Baghdad and much of the country.

The al-Qaida statement announced formation of the “al-Sadiq Brigades” which would specialize in “killing every apostate and nonbeliever” who had thrown his support to the Shiite-led Iraqi government and its American allies.

In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed three vehicles carrying members of the local anti-al-Qaida group late Thursday, killing five of them, police Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Wakaa said.

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