Saturday, April 2, 2011

Al-Qaida in Iraq Claims Responsibility for Tikrit Attack

People inspect a destroyed car in front of the provincial council building of Tikrit, 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq

Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the March 29 attack in northern Iraq that left 58 people dead and nearly 100 wounded.

The group said Saturday on its website that five al-Qaida members used a car bomb, an explosive belt and grenades during the raid and hostage situation at the provincial council headquarters in Tikrit. Iraqi troops took back the complex after a battle lasting several hours.

Also Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad, wounding three soldiers.

The attack comes a day after police said a suicide bomber killed three people during an attack on a group of soldiers stationed at an army post in Fallujah, 60 kilometers west of Baghdad. Among the dead was an Iraqi army colonel.

Fallujah, a city in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, was the center of much of the violence during the height of the war in Iraq.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.