Up to 15 people were killed today after the Iraqi army stormed a local government compound in Anbar province to rescue hostages seized there by at least six suicide bombers, police sources
said.
One bomber detonated his explosives outside the compound in Baghdadi, 190km west of the capital, while other attackers disguised in army uniforms stormed in and took several people hostage, holding them in a police station.
In a separate attack on a different police station in the town, security personnel thwarted the assault when they killed two bombers and detained one other.
It was not immediately clear whether the casualties came from the initial attack on the government compound or the fighting that followed as security personnel retook the site.
Mohammed Fatehi, the Anbar governor's spokesman, said eight people had been killed, while the Anbar governor said seven people had died. But police sources said at least 13 people were killed in the attacks not including the bombers.
It was thought a police chief may be among the victims.
Casualty figures often vary after attacks in Iraq.
The attacks underscored Iraq's still delicate security situation as the last US troops prepare to withdraw at the end of 2011 more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
Violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of sectarian strife in 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and radical Shia militias still carry out daily attacks, even as US troops prepare to withdraw at the end of the year.
Reuters