Two bombs kill 17 in northern Iraq

TIKRIT: At least 17 people were killed and 11 more wounded in two bombings, including a suicide car bomb attack, in northern Iraq, police said on Wednesday.   

The bombings took place at 9:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday in the town of Al-Shurqat, 100 kilometres north of Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein.   

A police officer from Tikrit said insurgents first attacked a centre of oil protection security forces in the town and "as people gathered around the blast site, another roadside bomb exploded."   

The two bombs left 17 people killed and 11 wounded, he said.   

Insurgents have stepped up attacks in Iraq's northern regions in the past few weeks even as raging bloodshed continued in Baghdad.