1st LD: At least 8 killed in twin suicide bomb attacks in Iraq's Fallujah

At least five civilians and three policemen were killed on Monday in two suicide bomb attacks in the city of Fallujah in west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a local security source told Xinhua.

The two attacks occurred before the sunset when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a security checkpoint and detonated it at the entrance of Nazal district in central Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killing five civilians and two policemen and injuring six, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In the second blast, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at the gate of a police headquarters, killing a policeman and wounding four others, the source said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the twin bombings, but the Islamic State (IS) group, in most cases, is responsible for such suicide attacks which often target crowded areas like markets, cafes and mosques across Iraq.

Iraqi security forces and allied militias freed Fallujah, a city of Iraq's largest province of Anbar and the once major stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) group, in mid-July, and then continued to push into vast rural areas and other parts of the province, which stretches from the western edges of Baghdad to the country's borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Under tightened security measures, thousands of residents have returned to their homes in Fallujah after more than two and a half years.

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 1,792 Iraqis and wounded 1,358 others in October across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said.

Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United States, which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. Endit