BAGHDAD — Dozens of Iraqis were killed Tuesday in attacks that included a massive car bombing in Diyala province, where security had improved significantly in recent months.
A car bomb in that province’s capital, Baqoubah, killed at least 47 people and injured 66, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Meanwhile, in Ramadi, a suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, according to Iraqi officials.
The car bomb exploded near a courthouse in central Baqubah and destroyed a restaurant frequented by members of the Iraqi security forces, said Iraqi Col. Ali Jassem.
Abdullah Jabar al-Qaisi, one of the people wounded in Baqouba, said he was heading to a courthouse when the bombing occurred.
“I heard a loud wham that lifted me to the air and threw me back on the ground,” he said. “I saw body pieces and human bodies flying and slapping the ground.”
Jassem said the bombing was “the most devastating attack to have taken place in Diyala since 2003,” and he noted that the bombers managed to penetrate a heavily secured part of the city, which is about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
In a statement condemning the attacks, the U.S. military said they “have the appearance of having been carried out by al-Qaida Iraq.”
The blast destroyed 15 vehicles, set 13 shops on fire and killed people in buses driving past the sedan at the time of the blast, Iraqi officials said.
The attacks occurred in provinces where Iraqi and U.S. military officials have in recent years won hard-fought victories against Sunni insurgents. Security has improved considerably in both provinces in recent months.
In Ramadi, at least 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a restaurant, according to Tariq Yousif al-Asal al-Dulaimi, a police commander.
“University students and policemen usually attend this restaurant,” he said.
Fawzi Mohammed al-Swedawi, 43, an injured restaurant diner, said from a hospital that a waiter told the bomber to take a seat anywhere he wanted when the man walked in the restaurant.
“The bomber screamed ‘Allah Akbar; La illa illa Allah!’ ” which means God is great; no God but Allah, “and blew himself up.”
U.S. military deaths
Marine Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, 23, Racine, Wis.; and Marine Lance Cpl. Dean D. Opicka, 29, Waukesha, Wis.; killed Monday in combat in Anbar province; assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve’s 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Milwaukee.
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