At Least 25 Dead in Suicide Attack against Iraqi Army

Local Editor

A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi army convoy in the northern city of Mosul early on Monday, killing at least 22 soldiers and three passers-by, police said.

The bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives up to a military convoy in the eastern Kokchali district of Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, before blowing himself and his car up.

"A suicide bomber was following the convoy and when it stopped in the middle of road, he detonated his vehicle right behind it," said a policeman at the scene who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

A separate attack in western Mosul killed four policemen, police said.

It was not clear who was behind the blasts, but suicide bombings are the hallmark of al-Qaeda, which has been regrouping in Mosul.
The attacks are the latest in a campaign of violence across Iraq.

Nearly 600 people have been killed in militant attacks across Iraq so far this month, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.
That is still well below the height of bloodletting in 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

Hours earlier, at least 65 people were killed in a wave of bombings in Iraq.
On Saturday, twelve car bombs and a roadside bomb hit the city of Baghdad, while another bomb exploded in Madain to the south of the capital, a police colonel and a medical official confirmed.

Two car bombs killed 12 people in the Karrada, while two car bombs and a roadside bomb hit Zafraniyah, both areas in central Baghdad. The attacks are believed to be coordinated.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team