Violence continued in Iraq Tuesday, as four suicide car bomb attacks in northern Iraq killed at least 19 and injured over 30, according to reports.
The first bomb exploded in Hawija, located about 40 miles south of Kirkuk, before three others exploded at army checkpoints in Bagara, Dibis and at the entrance to Hawija.
Elsewhere, a Sunni Muslim cleric in Basra has been assassinated, according to relatives on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of killings of religious figures in Iraq. Last week, the Imam of a Shi'ite mosque was also assassinated in the same southern Iraqi city.
According to witnesses, cited by Reuters, Salam Abdul-Karim was taken from his house on Sunday by men wearing police uniforms. His body was found the following day.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, a car bomb detonated near a police patrol, injuring nine people, including two policemen, according to police officials.
Meanwhile, two U.S. Marines have died as a result of separate roadside bombings near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, the military said Tuesday.
One Marine was killed in action Monday when a bomb targeted his vehicle near Fallujah, 65 kilometers west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Another Marine was seriously wounded Sunday and died a day later also near Fallujah in a similar incident.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
