BAGHDAD — Eight people, including four policemen, were killed and 27 wounded Tuesday when insurgents burst into the offices of the Diyala provincial council north of Baghdad, police said.
The attack was similar to the assault in March on the offices of the governing council in Salahuddin province in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. That attack claimed the lives of more than 50.
The attack began when a suicide bomber set off his explosives at the council building's main checkpoint. Shortly after, a car bomb exploded nearby and four insurgents, wearing police uniforms, rushed into the building and began shooting.
Responding security forces surrounded the four, two of whom blew themselves up. Security forces managed to defuse the explosive vest of a third, who'd been wounded, before he could detonate it. The fourth attacker fled through the building's rear door.
In the Iraqi capital, the head of the Baghdad ruling council's legal committee was assassinated. The killing took place in the Salam neighborhood in west Baghdad.