Gunmen blasted their way into government offices in central Iraq on Tuesday with two car bombs and suicide blasts that killed seven people and mirrored a similar March raid claimed by Al-Qaeda.
The gunmen involved in the attack in Diyala’s provincial capital of Baquba exchanged gunfire with Iraqi security forces, holding them at bay, and took hostages in the siege that lasted nearly three hours. Large numbers of Iraqi police and soldiers were deployed to the scene, with military helicopters hovering overhead and periodically firing onto the building during the siege, an AFP reporter said. The attack, in which 17 people were wounded, raises concerns over the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces, with just months to go before US soldiers must leave the country under the terms of a bilateral security pact.
The US military, engaged in support and assistance missions since ending combat operations in August, said its helicopters provided “observation support” to Iraqi forces, but “played no role in the response to today’s attack.”
Insurgents set off two car bombs against the perimeter wall of the provincial government compound at about 9:30 am (0630 GMT), before the militants stormed it, and set off twin suicide blasts inside the building itself.
Iraqi security forces then surrounded the compound and imposed a city-wide curfew, with security officials only reporting the mayhem over when a final attacker was captured wounded.
Ahmed Alwan, a doctor at Baquba’s main hospital, and an official at Diyala’s security command centre both said seven people were killed and 17 wounded. He said four policemen were among the dead.
