Iraqi police: blasts kill 6 in latest attack to hit western Anbar province

Blasts kill 6 in Iraq’s western Anbar province

BAGHDAD — A series of blasts killed six people in Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Thursday, a police official said, in the latest attack to hit the province that was once the heartland of the al-Qaida-led insurgency.

Col. Fadhil Nimrawi said one explosion targeted a house belonging to Lt. Colonel Walid Sulaiman al-Hiti, the director of the anti-terrorism unit in the town of Hit, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad. A second explosion targeted the home of his father next door. Slaiman was wounded and his mother, two sisters, another family member and a child were killed.

Nimrawi said a lawyer was killed by another bomb at his home and a fourth bomb exploded at the home of a police officer, injuring him as he slept.

Seven people were injured in the bombings, Nimrawi said.

Sunni-dominated Anbar was once the heartland of the al-Qaida supported insurgency against Iraq’s Shiite-led government. But tribal leaders turned against al-Qaida three years ago. Their new alliance with the government and U.S. forces was a major cause of the decrease in violence across Iraq.

Insurgents have attacked Anbar government in response. Thursday’s blasts follow last week’s attack on Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which wounded the Anbar governor and killed 24. The Islamic state of Iraq, an umbrella group for al-Qaida affiliated insurgent groups, claimed responsibility for that attack.

In a separate incident in northeastern Iraq’s Diyala province, a bomb exploded near a police station, killing one policeman and injuring ten other people near the Iranian border, police and hospital officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

(This version CORRECTS name of official targeted in blast))