Iraq officials: Car bombings in Fallujah kill 10

BAGHDAD – Two suicide car bombers took aim at police stations in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Thursday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 100, Iraqi officials said.

The apparently coordinated blasts struck within minutes of each other outside the concrete barriers surrounding two police stations in different sections of Fallujah.

A senior Iraqi police officer in Fallujah says the Tawhid station in the northern part of the city was leveled and several nearby houses were heavily damaged. The Hederi police station in central Fallujah also was struck, he said.

Police and hospital officials gave the casualty toll on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The U.S. military said two bombs exploded in Fallujah shortly before noon on Thursday but it had no immediate information about casualties or other details.

Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, is in Anbar province. It saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war before local Sunni tribal leaders joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

The city, which is largely sealed off by checkpoints, has been relatively peaceful in recent months but attacks have continued.

Thursday's double bombing came three months after the U.S. handed control of the province to the Iraqi government. Political tensions also have been high in Anbar as rival Sunni groups jockey for power ahead of Jan. 31 provincial elections.

The U.S. military has warned that the security gains of the past year remain fragile and it continues to target Sunni and Shiite extremists.

Four suspected insurgents were killed and 32 detained in operations Wednesday and Thursday targeting al-Qaida in Iraq.

The largest raid occurred Wednesday in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, which is in an oil-rich area that the Kurds are seeking to incorporate into their semiautonomous region.

Ground forces there killed four armed men after coming under fire while surrounding a building where a targeted al-Qaida in Iraq courier was believed to be hiding, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said 16 other suspects were detained in Wednesday's raid.

Three other people believed to be associated with the wanted man were detained in two earlier operations Wednesday in Kirkuk.

The military said 13 other al-Qaida-linked suspects were detained in operations Wednesday and Thursday elsewhere in northern Iraq and west of Baghdad.