The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) carried out "two new blessed attacks in the provinces of Anbar and Mosul," the group claimed in a statement posted Saturday on jihadist forums, SITE said.

It was referring to attacks in Iraq on Monday and Wednesday.

Monday's twin bombings "targeted the fortified main compound of the governmental and security departments in the centre of Ramadi city," 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said ISI.

The fist militant detonated "his explosives-laden vehicle at the main checkpoint at the gate of the compound," SITE quoted the statement as saying.

After the security men gathered "at the explosion site, the second attacker... detonated his explosive belt" in their midst," the statement added.

"He caused much killing, and wounded tens of the... special security elements and their officers," the militants said.

Police on Monday said a car bomb exploded near the provincial headquarters in the heart of Ramadi city, followed 15 minutes later by a suicide bombing which witnesses said occurred amid ambulances and rescue workers attending to victims of the first blast.

Among the dead were four police and five others, while at least 51 people were wounded, including women and children, officials said.

Wednesday's attack, meanwhile, "targeted the main headquarters of what is called the 'emergency group'" in the northern city of Mosul, which has "indulged in the blood of the Muslims and their honor," said ISI.

"The Sunni people had tasted from the hands of (this group's) elements different types of terror via arrest, torture, murder, displacement, and theft of money."

The Islamist group said that Lieutenant Colonel Shamil Ahmed Oglah, whom the attack targeted a week after he commanded an operation against an Al-Qaeda affiliate, "had a large part in this."

Three attackers "were able to penetrate the main gate of the headquarters so that each of them could go to his assigned target. The primary target was the office of... the commander of the group, and the officers' headquarters on the ground floor of the building," ISI said.

"The power of the blast led to the destruction of a large part of the building over those who were inside it, and the killing and wounding of the unclean people who were there including the heads of infidelity."

Two suicide bombers on Wednesday killed four policemen in a police station in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, including an officer who oversaw a deadly raid on militants, security officials had said.

A third bomber was shot dead before setting off his explosives belt in the attack targeting Oglah, a police officer said.

The early morning bombings killed Oglah and three other policemen, an interior ministry source said, and destroyed most of the police station in the Qabr al-Binat area of western Mosul, according to the officer.

Though attacks remain common, violence in Iraq has dropped dramatically since its peak in 2006 and 2007. The number of people killed in violence across the country last month was the lowest in a year for the second month running.

earlier related report
Iraq gun and bomb attacks kill four, wound 18
Baghdad (AFP) Jan 2, 2011 - Bomb and gun attacks across Iraq killed at least nine people on Sunday, including six members of the Iraqi security forces, security and medical officials said.

In a two-hour stint of the early evening, a traffic police colonel, two other police, an army captain and an engineer were gunned down in five separate attacks in Baghdad, an interior ministry source said on condition of anonymity.

Gunmen also severely wounded a colonel with the interior ministry, he said, adding that security was stepped up in central Baghdad after the attacks.

Two people, including a soldier, were killed and three others wounded by a car bomb targeting an army patrol in Al-Qayyara, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the northern city of Mosul, First Lieutenant Khattab Mohammed said.

One policeman was killed and four others were wounded when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Al-Filahat area, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the western city of Fallujah, police Captain Omar al-Filahi said.

In Balad, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Baghdad, assailants blew up the home of local prosecutor Hardan Khalifa, killing a woman and wounding eight other people, including three women and a child, a hospital official said.

And in Baquba, northeast of the capital, two improvised explosive devices wounded three people, including Mal Allah Abbas Ahmed, who heads the Sunni religious endowment for Diyala province, police and medical officials said.

The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for two bombings in Mosul and Ramadi last week that killed eight policemen, in a statement monitored by SITE Intelligence Group.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was approved by parliament for a second term along with a national unity cabinet on December 21 after more than nine months of political deadlock, has cited security as a top priority.

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