7 Killed in Two Suicide Car Bombings in Iraq

Two suicide car bombings on Wednesday killed at least seven people in Tal Afar, north of Baghdad, the Iraqi interior ministry said in a statement.

"According to initial reports, a terrorist attack of two car bombs aimed at shops in Tal Afar killed seven people and wounded 14 others," the ministry said.

A source in the interior ministry later put the toll at 12 dead and 19 wounded.

"A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant. And when people gathered, a suicide bomber blew himself up among them," the source told Agence France Presse.

Athil Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh province, said that at least five people had been killed in one of the explosions.

"There was a car bomb attack in Tal Afar and there were victims. I have heard of five dead and I do not know many are injured," he said.

The attack in Tal Afar comes two days after suspected al-Qaida militants stormed the town of Haditha in western Iraq, in a pre-dawn shooting spree and killed 27 policemen.

Tal Afar, located in northern Iraq, was hailed as a model town in March 2006 by former U.S. President George W. Bush due to the low levels of violence at the time.

The violence in Iraq has declined in recent years after peaking in 2006 and 2007.

According to official figures, 150 people were killed in February.