A twin attack Thursday involving a car bomb and a suicide bombing in Tikrit killed 12 people near a bank and a market crowded with shoppers stocking up for Ramadan, Iraqi officials said. At least 28 people were also wounded in the attack, a health department official said, while a security official put the number of wounded at 31.
“A car bomb exploded outside the Al-Rafidain Bank in the centre of Tikrit, and one minute later a suicide bomber exploded his vest as people gathered,” said Dr Raad al-Juburi, head of the health department in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital. He gave a toll of 12 people killed and 28 wounded and added that police and soldiers were among the victims. A military official in Tikrit confirmed the 12 dead, adding the attack happened at 11:45 am (0845 GMT). He said four soldiers were among the dead, and 12 among the wounded.
The bank had earlier been crammed with soldiers waiting to withdraw their salaries but they had been told to leave because it had run out of money, the official said. Meanwhile, in Baghdad’s northern Waziriyah neighbourhood, seven people were wounded by a car bomb that destroyed 11 liquor stores. Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, and militants are particularly sensitive to this during Ramadan.
