Bombers killed around 40 people and wounded scores in several attacks in northern Iraq yesterday. In the worst attack, two suicide bombers killed 27 people and wounded 68 when they blew themselves up outside an army recruitment centre in Baquba, 65km northeast of Baghdad.Hours later, three bomb blasts hit Mosul, capital of Nineveh province.
The latest attacks came as executed dictator Saddam Hussein's fugitive deputy Izzat Ibrahim Al Duri urged Iraqis to "strike the enemy everywhere... to make this year... decisive for victory". Saddam's number two in the decision-making Revolutionary Command Council, has had a $10 million (BD3.78m) US bounty on his head since November 2003.
In the capital, Electricity Minister Karim Wahid escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded in east Baghdad, wounding three of his bodyguards.