Iraq's Taji attacked again: Two suicide bombers strike in as many days

GlobalPost

What's going on in Iraq's Taji? The town has seen two suicide bombings in as many days, killing more than two dozen people in total, according to reports

In Tuesday's attack, a suicide car bomber killed at least three people in an attack on an army checkpoint in the town, which lies about 12 miles north of the capital, said Reuters.

The Voice of Russia, citing local officials, said the blast left over 20 people wounded. 

No group has yet claimed responsibility. It was not immediately clear whether or not the two attacks were related. 

"There were patches of blood, pieces of clothing and shoes scattered around the place," Taji policeman Furat Fleh told Reuters on Tuesday. "We heard shooting and shouting after the explosion." 

The violence comes a day after a suicide bomber struck a pro-government militia there, according to Pakistan's Daily Times, an attack that left at least 22 people dead. 

More from GlobalPost: 22 killed in suicide bombing in Iraq's Taji

Local officials said over 40 people were injured in the blast, which in turn followed a similar strike in the north killed 16

Police told Pakistan's Daily Times that the bomber snuck into tribal fighters' meeting disguised as a civilian and detonated the explosives as salaries were being handed out. 

The government recently upped the payment allotted to pro-government fighting units, whose ranks include many Sunni Muslims, according to Agence-France Press.  

Some saw the move as an effort to placate growing Sunni anger towards the country's Shiite government following weeks of mass protests over corruption and alleged discrimination. 

Both Shiite and Sunni militiamen were killed in Taji in Monday's attack, according to AFP

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