Sunday, June 26 2005 10:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Samarra: At least 28 people were killed in violence in Iraq yesterday (Jun 25, 2005), as President George W Bush acknowledged that the daily images of bloodshed made for "grim" viewing.

Twin bombings targeting the home of an Iraqi Special Forces officer killed at least 11 people and wounded 20 in the flashpoint city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, police and medics said.

Nine of the dead came when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed full of explosives outside the officer's home in the east of the city.

The other two came in a roadside bombing less than 10 minutes later, which badly damaged four nearby homes.

US soldiers detained a man suspected of detonating the second blast, a police officer told Agencies, asking not to be named.

Samarra was the scene of major US-backed counter- insurgency operation last October but remains a hot spot.

In the town of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, another stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency, the bodies of eight policemen were found.

The men had been captured overnight when three carloads of gunmen overran the checkpoint they were manning, Lieutenant Colonel Ziad Khalaf said.

In the capital, a member of the municipal council for the vast Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City was found dead after being kidnapped from his home overnight, an interior ministry official said.

And to the south, in an area known as the Triangle of Death for its insurgent activity, five Shiite poultry dealers were found dead in what appeared to be the latest sectarian killing to hit the area.