DHAKA: Gunmen and suicide bombers using explosives-packed vehicles launched a wave of coordinated attacks in Iraq’s Anbar province overnight, killing around 25 members of the security forces and three civilians.

A suicide bomber detonated a tanker truck packed with explosives at a federal police checkpoint east of the town, while fighters armed with heavy weapons struck the police station in Rutba itself and another bomber detonated a vehicle at a police checkpoint to its west.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the suicide and gun attacks, but Sunni Muslim fighters, including al-Qaeda, have regularly targeted security personnel and others working for the Shia-led government.

The attacks between 10:00pm and midnight on Tuesday in the west Iraq province also wounded another 26 police, they said, reports Al Jazeera.

Four of the attacks struck targets in or near the town of Rutba, about 110km from the border with war-racked Syria.

Those attacks killed 18 police and wounded 25, while three civilians died when another suicide bomber blew up a tanker truck on a bridge west of Rutba, the officials and a doctor said.

BDST: 1616 HRS, OCT 23, 2013
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