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Provincial security chief escapes 2 bombings in northern Iraq

10 July 2013 18:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The commander of security forces in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh on Wednesday survived unharmed a roadside bomb and a suicide car bomb attacks, a provincial police source said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

One of the attacks occurred when a roadside bomb went off near the convoy of Lieutenant General Basim al-Taie, commander of Nineveh's Operations Command, in the western part of the provincial capital of Mosul, some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blast caused no casualties to Taie's convoy, the source said.

Later on, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car near Taie's convoy while he was leaving a military base in southern the city, damaging three of his vehicles without causing human casualty, the source added.

Nineveh province has long been a stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida militants, since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

However, almost daily attacks and sporadic massive bombings took place in the province after April 23, when Iraqi security forces backed by helicopters stormed an anti-government Sunni protest in the city of Hawijah, some 220 km north of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of protesters.

The military operation in Hawijah sparked further clashes between the Sunni tribes and the security forces across the country's predominantly Sunni provinces.