Bombings In Samarra

The BBC reports that at least 23 people have been killed by car bombs and attacks on police stations by armed terrorists in Samarra earlier today. More than 40 people are believed wounded. More details to follow.

[Update] Sydney Morning Herald:

Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station Saturday in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 19 people and injuring 23 people, according to police and health officials.

Police officer Qahtan Mohammed confirmed that a group of armed militants stormed a police station at in the Zera district, leaving 12 policemen dead and injuring one.

In the other attacks, a suicide car bomber detonated explosives inside a stolen police car near the mayor's office, police said. A second car bomb exploded in a residential area of the town near a US base and a mortar fell on a crowded market.

The terrorist attacks are escalating coincident with preparations for a planned assault on Fallujah by U.S. Forces and the Iraqi National Guard.

[Update 2] From Reuters:

Insurgents detonated four car bombs and attacked police stations in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 62, police and health officials said.

The fourth blast occurred at 12:30 (0930 GMT) when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station, killing 10 Iraqi police officers and wounding five, police said.

A health official said 23 people, including nine policemen, were killed and 40 wounded, among them 17 policemen, in the first three bomb explosions in the Sunni Muslim city.

Brigadier Abdul-Razzak al-Jarmin, local Commander of the Iraqi Rapid Reaction Force, was killed. The mayor of Samarra, Major General Tariq Oweid, was wounded.