Sunni Leaders Targeted By Iraqi Bombers

Oct 09, 07:49 AM

Current Headlines: Anti-al-Qaida Sunni tribal leaders came under attack in northern Iraq Tuesday, with two coordinated truck bombings that killed 18 people.

Police said 22 other people were hurt in the early morning attacks in the city of Baiji, CNN reported. The first attack targeted the home of city's police chief and, while he escaped unharmed, some of his family members were among the victims, the report said.

The second blast in the city 130 miles north of Baghdad targeted Sunni clerics who were praying at a mosque, police said.

In neighboring Nineveh province, gunmen killed Brig. Abdul Al-Ali Dhanoun Mubarak, the deputy police chief of the region north of Mosul, the Interior Ministry reported.

The ministry also reported two car bombs in Baghdad killed three civilians and wounded 14 others.

The U.S. military reported the death of a Marine on Monday in Anbar province, which brings the U.S. military fatality count to 3,810 since the March 2003 invasion.