BAGHDAD: Bombs in Iraq targeting a checkpoint run by government-allied Sunni militiamen, a Shiite tribal leader’s funeral and a soccer field killed at least 19 people on Friday, in the latest strikes by militants seeking to destabilise the country.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in bombings and other violent attacks since the start of April.
The deadliest attack, which killed at least 11, struck the militia checkpoint shortly before midday in the village of Zangoura, which is just south of the former insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, some 115 kilometres west of Baghdad, according to police.
The checkpoint was manned by members of the Sahwa, who are Sunni militiamen that joined forces with US troops to fight al-Qaida during the Iraq War.
One bomb, apparently planted by the side of the road, was the source of the initial blast. A second detonated as villagers rushed to help the victims of the first explosion, police said.
In the town of Dujail, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a tent set up to welcome mourners at the funeral of a local Shiite tribal leader.
Dujail mayor Naif al-Khazraji and Ali al-Haidari, a senior security official in the town, said the blast killed at least four and wounded four others. Dujail is a predominantly Shiite town surrounded by mostly Sunni communities.
Shortly after unset, police said a bomb went off near a football field in the Shiite-majority town of Madain just south of Baghdad, killing 4 people and wounding 15 others.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. (AP)
