Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

   BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Two suicide bomb attacks rocked Tel Afer town west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, killing and wounding many people, the town governor said.

   "A suicide bomber in an explosive-laden car struck my car at about 10:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) while I was controlling the work of a gas station in center of Tel Afer town," Governor Najam Abdullah al-Juboury told Xinhua by telephone.

   "I was not in my car which was totally destroyed and one of my bodyguards was wounded," al-Juboury said.

   In a separate incident, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt blew himself up in a crowded popular market, killing and wounding many people, he said.

   "We have yet to know how many people were killed and wounded, but parts of human bodies and pond of blood were seen at the scene," he added.