Two bombs exploded near a crowded market in the Iraqi city of Falluja on Monday, killing six people and injuring two dozen, while two roadside bombs in Diyala province killed 10, security and hospital sources said. In a separate incident in the Iraqi capital, a roadside bomb killed three people.
Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in recent years but Iraqi forces are still battling a stubborn insurgency that carries out bombings and other attacks on a daily basis. US troops are scheduled to withdraw by the end of the year. The first blast in central Falluja killed two policemen with a bomb disposal unit that had been sent to dismantle a car bomb, and a second device exploded shortly after the first, killing four civilians, an Interior Ministry source said. A police officer who asked not to be identified said the first explosion was caused by a roadside bomb, followed by a car bomb.
"The roadside bomb exploded on a main road near a crowded market. When people gathered to evacuate casualties a nearby car bomb exploded," the officer said. Falluja Hospital spokesman Nadhum Hadeed said it had received five bodies and 25 injured people, and needed blood donations to treat the injured. In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded in the south-eastern district of Jisr Diyala, killing three people and injuring 11, an Interior Ministry source said.