BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — Two suicide bombers, one a woman, killed 26 people on Friday in separate attacks on anti-Al-Qaeda fronts in Iraq's restive Diyala province, days after the group warned of a new bombing campaign.
Police said the female attacker killed 16 people and wounded 27 when she blew herself up in the office of an Awakening group -- a front formed by Sunni Arabs to fight Al-Qaeda -- at Muqdadiyah 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Baghdad.
Hours later, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into an army checkpoint at the nearby town of Al-Mansuriyah, killing 10 people and wounding eight, among them soldiers and members of another Awakening group, security officials said.
On Thursday night, a leader of yet another anti-Qaeda front and five of his bodyguards were killed in a gun attack near the northern city of Mosul.
Al-Qaeda earlier this week announced it had launched a new bombing campaign across Iraq which it said would last until the end of January and would target in particular the Iraqi military and Awakening members.
Friday's attack in Muqdadiyah was the second by a female suicide bomber in less than two weeks after a similar assault on November 27 targeting a US foot patrol in the Diyala provincial capital of Baquba killed one Iraqi and wounded seven US soldiers.
"The explosion was caused when a female suicide bomber detonated her vest in the office of the local Awakening group," said Baquba police officer Lieutenant Colonel Najim al-Soumaidaie.
Of those killed, 10 were from the Awakening group and 15 members of the group were among the wounded, a security official said.
Awakening members and Iraqi soldiers, meanwhile, bore the brunt of the Al-Mansuriyah attack, security officials said.
"A suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint controlled by the army and the Awakening," said army Major Ziad al-Anni.
"Ten people were killed. Seven of them were soldiers and three were members of the Awakening," Anni told AFP, adding that the attack took place in Al-Mansuriyah.
Five of the wounded were soldiers and three were Awakening members.
Thursday night's attack targeted a prominent tribal leader who headed an Awakening group near Mosul, police said.
"Unidentified gunmen attacked sheikh Jabbar al-Jarba's convoy, killing him and five of his guards," said Brigadier General Mohammed al-Waggaa, a police officer in Mosul, 370 kilometres (225 miles) north of Baghdad.
Al-Sahwa or Awakening groups have sprung up across Iraq, comprising mainly Sunni tribal leaders who have accepted on average about 300 dollars a month from the US military in return for confronting Al-Qaeda militants who attack civilians.
On Tuesday, the leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked group warned in an Internet audio message of renewed attacks in Iraq and announced the formation of a new brigade.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq, said the Al-Siddiq Brigades had been formed to fight every "apostate and traitor."
Baghdadi warned of a bombing campaign that will continue until January 29, 2008.
"This attack involves bombings aimed at the 'apostates' and members of the Awakening Councils," he said. The term apostates is usually used to refer to Iraqi security forces.
The US military dismisses Baghdadi as a "fictional character."
"The whole notion behind this character is to try to put an Iraqi face to an Al-Qaeda organisation. It is essentially a virtual organisation," Major General Kevin Bergner told a news conference this week.
Diyala has been an Al-Qaeda stronghold for years. The former head of the group, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US air strike in the province last year.
In another incident on Friday, a crude pipeline in oil-rich northern Iraq was set ablaze after being bombed by militants, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.
Repairs at the site near Al-Fatah, 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of Kirkuk, were expected to be completed within a day and crude exports would not be affected, he said.
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