Double bomb attack leaves 13 dead in N. Iraq

PanARMENIAN.Net - Two bombs that exploded in swift succession killed 13 people Wednesday, March 7 near a crowded restaurant in a mid-sized city in Iraq's north, officials said, according to AP.

Tal Afar Mayor Abdul Aal Abbas al-Obedi said a car parked outside a popular downtown restaurant exploded in the early afternoon. As people rushed to the scene to help, a suicide bomber in the crowd detonated his explosives belt, al-Obedi said.

Al-Obedi and local politician Qusai Abbas said 13 people were killed in Tal Afar, a mixed Sunni Arab-Turkomen city about 90 miles (150 kilometers) east of the Syrian border and 260 miles (420 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Abbas said 22 people were wounded, although al-Obedi put the injuries at 15. Such confusion is common in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Iraq.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but car bombs and suicide bombers are hallmarks of al-Qaida.

Tal Afar was a major battleground between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents in 2005, and the Americans claimed it as one of their first lasting counterinsurgency victories. It has however seen infrequent but bloody militant attacks in the years since.