Iraqi Islamic Party condemns twin explosions in Baghdad (2nd Lead)

May 14, 2008, 12:38 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned on Wednesday the twin attacks that targeted the party's headquarters and one of its members in two separate areas in the capital Baghdad.

One explosion occurred in Baghdad's Yarmouk district, targeting the head office of the Iraqi Islamic Party, a statement issued by the party said.

The blast killed one civilian and wounded 15 people, including two security guards.

The party is part of the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front Coalition headed by Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi.

The other blast targeted Abdul-Karim al-Samaraay, who is a member of the defence committee in parliament, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The explosion took place in the Alawy area of central Baghdad, while al-Samaraay was on his way to the parliament in the green zone. The blast killed one of his security guards and wounded four.

Meanwhile Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived Wednesday in the northern city of Mosul to oversee a military operation, Lion's Roar, which will target al-Qaeda militants.

Security sources told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that al-Maliki and Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowafaq al-Rabeiy arrived in Mosul to supervise the military operation launched on Saturday against the al-Qaeda terrorist network and militants in the city.

A blanket curfew was imposed Friday in the Iraqi province of Nineveh ahead of the launch of the offensive.

Iraq's air force is taking part for the first time in the military operation, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told VOI. The air force in the past 24 hours has provided air surveillance of areas in Nineveh province, he said.

In other news, the US military said Wednesday that Iraqi army soldiers found a large weapons cache during a military operation in Mosul.

The cache consisted of 600 pounds of explosives, a rocket- propelled grenade launcher and 250 gallons of chemicals used to make home-made explosions.