12 killed in suicide bomb attacks in western Iraq

At least 12 people were killed and 27 wounded in suicide bomb attacks on a local government compound in Iraq's western province of Anbar on Sunday, a provincial police said. The attacks occurred at noon when at least three suicide bombers attacked the city council, a nearby police station and a security checkpoint in the city of Rawa, about 100 km west of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua. One of the suicide bombers blew up himself during a city council meeting, killing at least five officials and wounding 10 others, the source said. The second hit the entrance of a nearby police station, killing at least five policemen and wounding 13 others, the source added. The third suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at a nearby joint police and army checkpoint, killing two policemen and wounding four others including two soldiers, the source said. The attacks prompted the provincial operations command to block all entrances of the city and impose an indefinite curfew, he said. Insurgent attacks continue in the volatile Sunni Arab area west of Baghdad, which stretches through Anbar province to Iraq's western border with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.