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Death toll rises to nine in twin Iraq bombings

RAMADI, Iraq — The death toll in twin bombings that targeted Iraqi government offices in the western city of Ramadi has risen to nine, a health department official said on Tuesday.

Ramadi police had said seven people were killed and at least 51 wounded when a car bomb exploded Monday near the provincial headquarters in the heart of Ramadi, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, followed 15 minutes later by a suicide bombing.

Muhanad Taha, a health department media official in Ramadi, on Tuesday put the toll at nine dead, including four policemen, and 49 wounded, among them five women and four children.

Police said the twin bombings took place at Al-Ziut, a major intersection used by police and government officials on their way to and from their offices.

The attacks marked the third time this year that the headquarters of the Anbar provincial government have been attacked and came a day after a new police chief for the province in western Iraq took up his post.

They also mark the first major attack since Maliki was confirmed for a second term in office on Tuesday last week and his new government, in which he retains Iraq’s three security portfolios, won approval in parliament.

Maliki has assumed interim control of the defence, interior and national security ministries. These posts will be responsible for assuring security after the planned pullout by end 2011 of the roughly 50,000 US troops left in Iraq.

In his first address after being re-appointed, Maliki committed his new government to tackling the “enormous” challenges to improve security across Iraq.