Twin roadside bombs targeting anti-Qaeda militiamen in northern Iraq on Wednesday killed three people and wounded 22, including seven militia fighters, police said.
A bomb targeted a local leader of the Sahwa militia, known in the US army as the "Sons of Iraq," in the town of Sharqat, in Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, and the second exploded when a crowd gathered at the scene.
"The first roadside bomb targeted a convoy transporting Abu Arkan al-Juburi, a Sahwa leader in Sharqat," said police Colonel Mijbil Hassan al-Juburi.
"He was wounded, as were six other Sahwa members. When people gathered to see what had happened, a second roadside bomb exploded. Three people were killed, and 15 others wounded."
Recruited by the US military among Sunni Arab tribesmen and former insurgents, the Sahwa (Awakening) militia played a key role in curbing Sunni-Shiite sectarian bloodshed which claimed thousands of lives in 2006-2007.
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