BAQUBA, Iraq, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and 23 others injured as two car bomb attacks, including a suicide one, struck a government office in a town in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Wednesday, a provincial police source said.
A suicide bomber hit the office in the town of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 17 others, 12 of whom were policemen and office employees, the source from the provincial operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Afterwards, a booby-trapped car parking outside a hospital some 100 meters away from the government office detonated, wounding six people, the source said.
The second blast was apparently designed to hit the wounded victims of the suicide attack as well as the security forces which were to arrive at the scene after the first blast, the source added.
Previously, a series of car bomb attacks struck the cities of Baghdad, Basra, Ramadi and Kut Wednesday morning in apparently coordinated attacks against the Iraqi security forces, killing at least 19 people and wounding some 97 others.
Five months after violence-torn Iraq held parliamentary elections, violence and sporadic high-profile attacks are still common in Iraqi cities which shaped a setback to the Iraqi government's efforts to restore normality.
U.S. forces have pulled out of Iraqi cities and are working to formally end combat operations by Sept. 1, cutting the U.S. military force from just under 90,000 to 50,000. However, local analysts worry about whether the Iraqi forces are ready to replace the American soldiers amid continued insurgent attacks.
Special Report: Situation in Iraq
