Latest round of sectarian violence in Iraq leaves more than 30 dead - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Latest round of sectarian violence in Iraq leaves more than 30 dead - Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief's house northeast of Baghdad at dawn yesterday, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children, Diyala provincial police reported.

The attack outside Baqouba, which came when the police chief was not at home, was one of the boldest and bloodiest in months of stepped-up violence around the city, where al-Qaida in Iraq and affiliated groups have been fighting US and Iraqi forces and local insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, bombings struck a Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least 19 people and wounding 25, police said.

The attack started at 1:45 p.m. when a parked car exploded near worshippers leaving the Thaqalain mosque after Friday prayers in the predominantly Shiite town of Dakok, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Kirkuk, police chief Maj. Gen. Farhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said.

About five minutes later, a suicide bomber was spotted driving toward the mosque but policemen in a nearby station opened fire on him and he exploded, Youssef said." Read complete post here.