Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- A bomb struck the car of the leader of an Awakening Council group in western Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding him and killing his son, a well-informed police source said.

    An explosive charge stuck to the car of Hikmat al-Tikriti, head of the Awakening Council group of Baghdad's western district of Yarmouk, detonated around 3:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT), the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The blast took place in the nearby neighborhood of Dawoodi, wounding Tikriti and killing his son, the source said.

    Three bystanders were also wounded by the blast, the source added.

    The police are investigating the incident that targeted Tikriti, who is also a brigadier in the former Iraqi army.

    The Awakening Council groups, or Sahwa fighters, are U.S.-backed armed groups, who began to fight the al-Qaida network after the latter exercised indiscriminate killings against both Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities.