Skip to main content

23 killed in Iraqi two bomb attacks

From Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Suicide bomber sets off explosives in hospital, ministry officials say
  • A container full of explosives was placed outside a mosque, police say
  • It exploded as people left the mosque in Tikrit
  • On Thursday, a series of bombs went off in Anbar province
RELATED TOPICS
  • Tikrit
  • Baghdad
  • Iraq War

(CNN) -- Seventeen people were killed and 50 others wounded in a blast from a container full of explosives left outside of the Presidential Palaces Mosque in central Tikrit, Iraq, officials told CNN.

That was followed in the evening by another explosion when a suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest entered a Tikrit hospital treating the wounded, Iraq interior ministry officials told CNN. Six people died and 10 were wounded at the hospital in the second attack.

The first explosives went off Friday afternoon, as worshippers were leaving the mosque after prayers, Iraq's interior ministry said.

The mosque is located in a residential compound and close to the provincial council building. Most families who live in the residential compound work for the Salaheddin provincial council.

Two provincial council members and an Iraqi police colonel were among the wounded, the ministry said.

Local authorities in Tikrit imposed a curfew on vehicles and pedestrians until further notice, ministry officials said Friday.

The curfew is aimed at preventing more attacks.

Tikrit is about 160 kilometers (99 miles) north of Baghdad, located in the predominantly Sunni Salaheddin province.

Elsewhere in Iraq, on Thursday night, two roadside bombs exploded outside the Anbar Provincial Council compound.

A car bomb exploded, minutes later, when Iraqi police and soldiers arrived at the scene. When the wounded arrived at a hospital in Ramadi in ambulances, another car bomb exploded, causing more casualties, police said.

Seven people were killed and 19 injured in the series of explosions, police said.

Most of the dead and wounded belonged to Iraqi security forces.

Ramadi is located in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province.

--From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq