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Sunni leader among 6 killed by bombs in western Iraq

Falluja–A series of explosions in western Iraq killed six people on Sunday, including an official of a political faction in former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s electoral coalition, police said.

Four bombs went off near the house of Ghanim Radhi, a member of the Development and Reforms movement, in the town of Qaim in Anbar province, 300 km west of Baghdad. Radhi and one of his brothers were killed.

Police said four other people were killed at the scene but gave no details of their identities. They said 15 people were wounded.

Radhi did not stand in the parliamentary election on March 7 but his movement is a minor faction in Allawi’s Iraqiya list which emerged with the most seats, according to preliminary results released on Friday.

Two days before the explosions, Iraqiya premises were damaged by fire in the southern province of Kerbala, a Shia religious center.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known and Iraqiya officials said an investigation was under way to determine whether it was sabotage or an electrical failure.

The Development and Reforms movement won three seats in the election in predominantly Sunni Anbar province.

Anbar had been relatively quiet since 2006 when Sunni Muslim tribal leaders turned on Sunni Islamist groups such as al Qaeda, which had once dominated it, but insurgents continue to operate in the vast desert province.

Overall, violence has dropped sharply in the past few years but a series of explosions in recent weeks has illustrated the fragility of Iraqi security.

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