BAGHDAD — A double homicide bombing killed at least six people and wounded 26 Monday outside the Baghdad office of a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, the chief military spokesman for Baghdad said. A police officer put the death toll as high as 14.
Three other bombs killed five more people in the capital, police said.
In the initial attack, a homicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the Sunni Endowment office in Baghdad's northern Azamiyah district, said Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi. As people rushed to evacuate the wounded, a homicide car bomber detonated his explosives just yards away, he said.
The dead included Riyadh al-Samarrai, head of a local U.S.-backed armed group, said one witness, who is an employee of the Sunni Endowment. His account was corroborated by a member of the armed group, who gave his name only as Abu Omar, and by an Iraqi army official.
Another witness, one of al-Samarrai's guards, said the homicide bomber walked up to al-Samarrai — a former police colonel — and embraced him before detonating his explosives.
The U.S.-backed groups — predominantly Sunni Arab fighters who turned against Al Qaeda and are known as "awakening councils" — have been credited with helping reduce violence across Iraq by 60 percent since June. But they are increasingly becoming targets, with several recent bombings striking their offices and checkpoints. Monday's blast occurred near one of their offices.
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Im kindof freaking out.