Baghdad: At least 42 people were killed and 62 wounded in separate attacks across Iraq, police sources and media reports said Thursday.

In Nineveh province, 17 people were killed when a car bomb aimed at provincial Governor Doreid Kashmola, went off in the centre of Mosul, police sources told PDA.

Kashmola survived the explosion, while five of his security guards were among the dozens of injured, sources said.

It was not the first time Nineveh's governor survived an assassination attempt.

In another incident, at least 20 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a meeting of clan chiefs and tribal leaders in the town of Karma in the western province of Anbar, al-Arabiya news channel said.

The attacker, who blew himself up while the council was meeting, managed to enter through an unguarded gate, al-Arabiya said.

Senior officials and clan chiefs were reported to be among the killed, while US troops were believed to be among the injured.

Firm figures about the injured were not yet available, while the death toll was expected to rise, al-Arabiya said.

The US military was expected to delay the handover of security responsibilities in Anbar province due to the explosion and bad weather forecasts, al-Iraqiya state television said.

Separately, the US military said one of its soldiers was killed by armour-piercing explosives in the predominantly Shia area of eastern Baghdad, the latest in a surge of violence that saw at least nine soldiers killed this week.

The US military says the charges come from Iran.

The fatality pushes the number of soldiers who died in June to at least 26. Some 19 soldiers were killed in May.

 

Source : IANS