The northeast continued to bear the brunt of the weeks violence through 11 May. At least two were killed and about 15 wounded when a suicide tanker truck bomber struck the house of a senior security officer in the Iraqi province of Salahudin on Saturday.
The attack took place around midday when a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden tanker truck outside the house of Brigadier General Ismail al-Jubouri in the city of Shirqat, about 280 km north of Baghdad. Mr. Jubouri has been described as the head of intelligence department of operations command of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh and as such remains a key target for local insurgent groups – along with the provincial governor who recently survived two sophisticated attacks.
Mr. Jubouri himself escaped the attack unharmed, but his house and four nearby houses were destroyed by the huge blast, which killed Mr. Jubouri's son and his nephew and wounded at least 15 people, including policemen guarding his house.
Baghdad was also a focal point for violence during the week with numerous skirmishes and SAF attacks claiming the lives of up to 29 people.
The most notorious incident happened on 14 May when a convoy of gunmen opened fire on a row of liquor stores in eastern Baghdad immediately after sunset, killing 11 people and wounding five others. ISF sources said the gunmen were in four cars that had stopped in the area and attacked shortly after sunset. The attack in the Zayouna neighborhood came as the stores were at their peak business time, when commuters buy alcohol on the way home from work. Locals had reported that the four liquor stores hit had been rebuilt after bombers destroyed them in a previous attack last year. Nobody claimed responsibility, although Islamic extremists have frequently targeted liquor stores in Iraq, where a far more secular outlook has ensured that alcohol is available in most cities.
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