BAGHDAD: Two bombings killed at least 25 people at a checkpoint outside a provincial Iraqi governor's house on Tuesday in the latest attack targeting local government and security forces.
The suicide bomber blew himself up and a car bomb exploded outside the Diwaniya governor's house, 150km south of Baghdad, just as guards changed shifts. Most of the victims were security staff, officials said.
"I heard a loud blast and then another one. I opened the door and I saw white smoke and smelled the blood... I looked to the side and I saw three guards dead on the ground," said Maha al-Sagban, a resident whose house was damaged.
Television footage showed the crumpled and burnt out wreckage of a white truck lying by the remains of a guard post. Bloodied and wounded security guards filled the beds of a hospital. Muayad al-Ansary, a spokesman for the provincial council in Diwaniya, said the death toll had risen to 25 killed and 35 more were woun
