16 Dead In Continuing Iraq Violence

The violence, which also left 24 people wounded, comes two days after suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 27 policemen in a pre-dawn rampage in western Iraq, as officials insisted Baghdad was ready for the March 29 meeting, which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to attend.

“There were two explosions today, the first carried out by a car bomb and another by a suicide attack, in front of a restaurant,” Athil al-Nujaifi, governor of Nineveh province of which Tal Afar is part, told AFP.