Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    RAMADI, Iraq, July 27 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi Sunni Arab politician escaped a bomb explosion which killed two of his bodyguards in the city of Fallujah in western Anbar province on Sunday, a local police source said.

    "Zeki Obeid Faiyadh, a leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party in Fallujah, was wounded when a bomb planted in his car detonated, killing two of his bodyguards," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Faiyadh's son was also wounded by the blast that took place in the garage of his house in the Dhubbat neighborhood in central Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, the source said.

    Gunmen frequently attack members of the Iraqi Islamic Party, headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi. The Sunni party is in part of the Accordance Front, a major Sunni bloc in the Iraqi parliament.

    Fallujah has been relatively calm for more than a year and a half after Sunni tribes and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turned to cooperate with the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces against al-Qaida in Iraq network.