BAQUBA, Iraq, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Two suicide attacks in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, killed at least 15 people and injured 85 others, police said.
In the provincial capital of Baquba, police said a suicide bomber drove an explosives-filled vehicle into the headquarters compound of the Force Protection Services, Iraq's security agency charged with protecting government institutions, during morning exercises, CNN reported.
Officials in Baquba and Baghdad said at least 13 people died and 70 were injured in the attack.
South of Baquba, a person wearing a suicide vest detonated his explosives near a convoy that included the Diyala provincial council's deputy leader, Sadiq al-Husseini, police said. At least two people died in the attack in al-Ghalbiya and 15 others were wounded, including al-Husseini.
The convoy was traveling with a procession of Shiite pilgrims, police said.
Security forces near Baquba were attacked Jan. 3, when a vehicle carrying explosives blew up outside an intelligence compound, killing two passers-by and wounding 16, many of them schoolchildren, The New York Times reported. The city once was an al-Qaida stronghold and remains one of the more dangerous places in Iraq although violence has eased, U.S. military officials said.
