BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombs killed at least 22 people in northern Iraq on Tuesday in attacks targeting a police chief and a Sunni Arab tribal leader, police said.
Al Qaeda in Iraq had vowed to ramp up attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, specifically to target government officials and tribal leaders who had joined with the U.S. military to combat the Sunni Islamist group.
The two suicide car bombs hit the town of Baiji,180 km (110 miles) north of the capital in Salahuddin province. Baiji is a major oil refining centre fed with crude oil and gas from the vast fields under the nearby city of Kirkuk.
Police said a bomb in a pick-up truck was aimed at Baiji's police chief, Colonel Saad Nifous, who was wounded in the blast. The second targeted a tribal chief. Police did not immediately have a breakdown of the 22 dead from the two separate attacks.
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