17 killed in Iraq violence

BAGHDAD: At least 17 people were killed in bombings and gunbattles in Iraq on Sunday as the death toll rose to 46 from violence since the start of Ramadan, which Al-Qaeda warned would be bloody.   

In Baghdad, the relative calm which had prevailed since the Muslim holy month began on Thursday was shattered when a car bomb ripped through crowds outside an electrical goods shopping mall, killing two people and wounding seven, security and medical officials said.   

Insurgents then opened fire on security forces as they rushed to the scene in the mainly Sunni area of Mansour, the officials said. Seven civilians were killed and 12 wounded in the firefights.   

In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber triggered his explosive vest in a crowded cafe in the town of Tuz, about 70 kilometres (35 miles) south of the oil city of Kirkuk, leaving bodies buried beneath rubble and causing pandemonium.   

"There were eight people killed and 19 wounded," said a doctor at the local hospital, revising an earlier toll. "They were all men."   

Said Mohammed, the mayor of Tuz, a mainly Turkoman-Shiite town, confirmed the mid-morning attack. "The toll could rise because we are still sifting through the rubble," he said.   

A suicide bomb attack in a cafe in Tuz last July killed 28 people.   

The latest deaths bring to 46 the number of people killed across Iraq since the start of the holy month, according to an AFP tally based on reports by Iraqi officials.   

The Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, vowed a new offensive during Ramadan.    It also warned it would target Sunni leaders who support US troops in Iraq, and claimed the assassination on Thursday of Sunni sheikh Sattar Abu Reesha who had led the fight against Al-Qaeda alongside US forces in the western province of Anbar.   

"We announce the formation of 'special security committees' to trace and assassinate prominent (leaders) of agent tribes who tarnished the reputation of their original tribes by helping the soldiers of the cross and the Safawi government of al-Maliki," the group said in an Internet statement on Friday.   

It said in a later statement it was "honoured to announce" a new Ramadan offensive.  

On Sunday, US forces said they had captured a man they believe is linked to the Abu Reesha assassination.   

The suspect was detained during an operation on Saturday in Balad, 70 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, it said in a statement.   

It named him as Fallah Khalifa Hiyas Fayyas al-Jumayli and said he had been involved in a plot to kill tribal leaders in Anbar, where the US military has claimed success in persuading former insurgents to join the fight against Al-Qaeda.