MOSUL, Iraq: A suicide bomber killed a senior Iraqi army intelligence officer and three bodyguards on Saturday when he detonated his explosives at the officer's home in the northern city of Mosul, police said.
Iraq has seen an increase in suicide bombings since the start of the year as Sunni Islamist insurgents tied to al Qaeda try to ignite the kind of sectarian violence that pushed the country close to civil war in 2006-2007.
Two bombers attacked the home of Brigadier-General Awni Ali, the director of the defense ministry's intelligence school, in Tal Afar town, just outside Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of the capital, authorities said.
"Guards killed one suicide bomber, but when the brigadier general and his bodyguards went out another bomber ran among them and blew himself up," a local official said.
Political tensions are high in Iraq as thousands of Sunni Muslims in the west of the country hold daily rallies against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, accusing him of marginalising their minority sect.
More than ten suicide attackers have struck security forces, Shi'ite targets and a lawmaker since January. After the last American troops left in December 2011, insurgents have been carrying out at least one major, complex attack a month. (Reuters)
