At least 37 killed, 70 injured, in fresh Iraq bombings (Roundup)

Dec 30, 2009, 16:36 GMT

Baghdad - At least 37 people were killed and 70 injured in three devastating bombings across Iraq on Wednesday, police told the German Press Agency dpa.

The deadliest attack struck the offices of the governor of al-Anbar province in the overwhelmingly Sunni city of Ramadi.

Qassim Mohammed al-Fahadawi, the governor of the province, and Abbas al-Dulaimi, the deputy director of the Ramadi police, were among those injured when a man detonated explosives packed into his car outside the governor's office, police told dpa.

Soon after, a second man detonated explosives strapped to his body outside the government building.

Last week, al-Fahadawi had told Admiral Mike Mullen, the United States' top military official, that he feared attacks on his life, and that he wished US troops would delay their departure.

'When we go to sleep, we keep one eye open, just to be sure,' al-Fahadawi told Mullen in remarks reported by Boston's Christian Science Monitor.

There were contradictory reports as to whether Mohammed and al- Dulaimi had been killed in the blast. Police told dpa that the two, and provincial council member Saadoun Abdel-Mohsen, were being treated for injuries.

It was the bloodiest attack in the province this year.

As the day closed, a powerful roadside bomb killed the chief of police of the north-eastern town of Khalis, not far from the Iranian border in Diyala province, police there said.

At least six other people died in that blast, police said, and at least 20 were injured.