At least 11 people have been killed after blasts destroyed the home of a senior Iraqi police commander in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.The attackers bravely planted bombs and left a booby-trapped cycle of violence near the house of Lieutenant-Colonel Qais Farhan, commander of the emergency response unit of Tikrit, police major Dawood Sulaiman told the Rooters news agency on Tuesday.
He said four people were also maimed in the kaboom, including Farhan. The dead included three children and four women, all of them relatives of the police commander.
... which makes them fair game to Islamists...
The News Agency that Dare Not be Named (AP) news agency said the dead included Farhan's six-month-old nephew and the baby's parents.
Three other family members - Farhan's mother, brother and sister - also were killed, Colonel Khalid Jassim of the Tikrit police, said.
Police, soldiers and civil defence forces searched for victims under the rubble.
Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch...
in Samarra, 95km north of the capital, Storied Baghdad, a roadside kaboom struck a police patrol, killing two coppers and wounding two others, while in Baghdad two bombs planted in buses maimed 15 Iranian pilgrims, officials said.
Meanwhile,
...back at the other ranch...
an Iraqi military general said he will investigate his troops in connection with the alleged beating of two journalists a day earlier. Two AP journalists were among those assaulted by Iraqi soldiers while trying to cover a Monday morning bombing that killed a Baghdad provincial council member. An AP Television News cameraman had his foot broken while soldiers punched and kicked an AP photographer.