This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7475143.stm
The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Bomber hits Iraqi local council | Bomber hits Iraqi local council |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| A suicide attacker has killed at least 12 people at a tribal council meeting in a government building in Karma, a town near Falluja, Iraqi police said. | A suicide attacker has killed at least 12 people at a tribal council meeting in a government building in Karma, a town near Falluja, Iraqi police said. |
| More than a dozen people were wounded in the blast, police added. | More than a dozen people were wounded in the blast, police added. |
| Karma is in the mainly Sunni Muslim province of Anbar, formerly a centre of the anti-US insurgency but which has recently seen a drop in violence. | Karma is in the mainly Sunni Muslim province of Anbar, formerly a centre of the anti-US insurgency but which has recently seen a drop in violence. |
| It is the third attack in a week against a local administrative branch of the US-backed Iraqi government. | It is the third attack in a week against a local administrative branch of the US-backed Iraqi government. |
| Police were quoted as saying the bomber entered the municipal government building through a back door, but it was unclear how he managed to evade security for the meeting. | Police were quoted as saying the bomber entered the municipal government building through a back door, but it was unclear how he managed to evade security for the meeting. |
| It has gotten quieter, but that doesn't make these losses any easier. US military spokesman Steve Stover Local Sunni tribal leaders here and elsewhere have turned against al-Qaeda militants as part of the so-called Awakening movement. | |
| The attack comes days before US troops are to hand over security responsibility to Iraqis in Anbar. | |
| Earlier on Thursday, the US military said one soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, bringing to at least eight the number of American troops killed in Iraq this week. | |
| The soldier was killed by what is known as an explosively formed penetrator - a powerful bomb believed to come from Iran and which is frequently used by Shia extremists. | |
| "The level of violence has dropped dramatically," said US military spokesman Lt Col Steve Stover. "It has gotten quieter, but that doesn't make these losses any easier." | |
| But he said militants "are constantly thinking of ways that they can undermine us, undermine the government, undermine the Iraqi security forces". | |
| Airport clash | |
| Three suspected militants died on Wednesday after they had opened fire at a US military convoy from a vehicle near Baghdad's international airport, the military said. | |
| However, Iraqi security sources at a west Baghdad hospital said the three, two of whom were women, were bank employees. | |
| Troops opened fire at the vehicle, which crashed and exploded, killing all three passengers. | |
| Four Americans and seven Iraqis were killed on Tuesday in a bombing at a municipal council office in the Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad. | Four Americans and seven Iraqis were killed on Tuesday in a bombing at a municipal council office in the Shia area of Sadr City in Baghdad. |
| The US military blamed that attack on infighting between rival Shia Muslim groups. | The US military blamed that attack on infighting between rival Shia Muslim groups. |
| Another two Americans were shot dead on Monday when a gunman opened fire on a municipal building in Madain, in an attack attributed to a disgruntled official. | Another two Americans were shot dead on Monday when a gunman opened fire on a municipal building in Madain, in an attack attributed to a disgruntled official. |
| Three US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were also killed late on Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Ninevah province, an area of intense Sunni extremist activity. | |
| The figure for US military dead is 26 so far in June - less than the average last year but more than the 19 who died in May, the lowest monthly tally since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. |