Provincial governor wounded in Iraq blasts

Staggered explosions today killed 23 people — 13 of them policemen — and wounded an Iraqi provincial governor, officials said, in the worst violence in months to hit the western province that was formerly al-Qa'ida's top stronghold in Iraq.

The strategically important Anbar province was once the heartland of support for al-Qa'ida-linked militants, before many insurgents turned on the terror organisation and joined forces with US troops and the Iraqi government. The governor is the most senior Sunni leader to be attacked since then.

While violence in Iraq has dropped considerably since the height of the conflict in 2006 and 2007, a reinvigorated insurgency in Anbar — which is also Iraq's largest province — could pose a serious risk to the country's stability as it prepares for elections in March.

The bombings are also the latest in a string of attacks to target government buildings and installations in the country, as a way to undermine Iraqis' confidence in the ability of the government to protect itself. Insurgents trying to ignite sectarian violence also killed six people at a Shiite mourning event north of Baghdad, officials said.

Police official Lt. Col. Imad al-Fahdawi said two bombs exploded in Anbar's capital of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. He says a suicide bomber in a car caused the first blast near a checkpoint on the main road near the provincial administration buildings.

Govenor Qassim al-Fahdawi, the deputy police chief and other officials came to inspect the damage, the police official said, when a suicide bomber on foot detonated a vest full of explosives nearby.

The deputy police chief was killed and the governor and other officials wounded, al-Fahdawi said. Police have put a curfew in place, he added.

Another police official said the provincial police commander was wounded.

A spokesman for the governor, Mohammed Fathi, told the Al-Arabiyah news channel that bombers are trying to prevent the investment and reconstruction that has been going on as security in the region has improved.

"This violence is done by those who want to hamper rebuilding in Anbar," he said.

A doctor at the main hospital in Ramadi, Ahmed Abid Mohammed, said 23 people had been killed and 57 injured. He said the governor had suffered burns on his face, injuries to his abdomen and other areas.

American forces were helping evacuate casualties, establish security and carry out forensic investigations, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Curtis Hill.

Television footage from the blasts showed large black plumes of smoke rising from the scene as emergency and police vehicles rushed to the area with sirens blaring.

There are 18 provincial governors in Iraq. Anbar is primarily Sunni, the minority sect of Islam that at one point ruled the country under former dictator Saddam Hussein. The province was the former stronghold of the insurgency, and the site of some of the war's most intense fighting between US forces and insurgents in the key cities of Ramadi and Fallujah.

In 2006, many former insurgents began to rebel against al-Qa'ida, and joined forces with the US military, who paid fighters to participate in the pro-government Sons of Iraq program, also known as the Awakening Council.

The decision by the Sons of Iraq to join forces with US and Iraqi forces to combat al-Qa'ida about three years ago is considered one of the key reasons for the drop in violence seen in Iraq today. But the Sons of Iraq as well as many Sunni political figures have repeatedly been targeted for their cooperation with the Shiite-led government. Five members of the Awakening Council were killed at a checkpoint yesterday in central Iraq.