Two suicide car bombs in Iraq kill at least 12

A suicide car bomb detonated Thursday at Iraq's Kurdish deputy prime minister' convoy in northern Iraq, killing at least eight people and wounding 38 others, police said.

"A suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle at about 8:00 a.m. (0400 GMT) next to the convoy of Kurdish Deputy Premier Rowsch Shaways as they passing near a restaurant on the main road in the Iraqi town of Toz Khurmatu," US-Iraqi liaison office in Tikrit said in a statement.

The blast killed eight people, including six of Shaways' bodyguards, and wounding 38 others, the statement said. Shaways himself escaped unhurt in the attack that also destroyed several civilian cars.

At least four people, including a local council official, were killed and five others wounded Thursday morning in a suicide car bombing attack in Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Hussein Alwan al-Tamimi, deputy head of Diyala provincial council, was killed in the attack, which struck at the official's convoy at about 9:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) in the northeastern town, the police said. His three bodyguards were also killed in the blast, they added.

Iraq has been beset by a new wave of violence since a Shiite-dominated government was unveiled on April 28. Some 700 people have been killed in May.

Source: Xinhua