By DPA
Baghdad : At least eight people were killed and 17 wounded, including militants of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in separate attacks in Iraq Saturday, Iraqi officials and media reports said.
In Samara, some 125 km north of Baghdad, joint US-Iraqi forces killed four Al Qaeda militants and wounded three, security sources told DPA.
Sources said Iraqi forces supported by US helicopters launched a military operation in al-Jalam area in the city and managed to detain the deputy leader of the city’s Al Qaeda network.
In the northern city of Mosul, four Awakening Councils members were killed and nine injured when an explosive device targeted their patrol, the Iraqi news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) reported.
The Awakening Councils are local police squads formed mainly in Sunni areas in many Iraqi provinces to fight Al Qaeda insurgents. Many Sunni insurgents and reformed Al Qaeda loyalists have joined the ranks of the Awakening Councils.
In western Baghdad, five people were injured when an explosive device was detonated in the main road near al-Mansoura district, VOI said.
In another development, Iraqi forces detained 15 suspected terrorists across the Iraqi capital.
Friday’s attacks by two female suicide bombers on Baghdad’s pet and bird markets were now known to have left at least 84 people dead and 153 injured, hospital and police sources said Saturday.
Sources said that 76 wounded were still receiving treatment, while the other had been released from hospital. The attacks occurred Friday as both markets were teeming with people.
Scores of Iraqis Saturday mourned their relatives and friends who died in the two explosions.
President Nuri al-Maliki Saturday described those responsible as “people with sick and corrupt minds”.
“The aim of these explosions was to hinder normal life to return back in Baghdad,” al-Maliki said in a press statement.
He added that terrorists used two mentally retarded females to carry out the explosions.
“This crime is highly condemned, but it will further boost our persistence to achieve security and combat terrorism,” he said.
Al-Ghazl market has been struck several times since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In November, a bomb hidden in a small box exploded, killing 15 people and injuring dozens.