BAGHDAD — A suicide car bomber struck in one of the capital’s most heavily guarded neighborhoods Tuesday, killing two guards at a checkpoint near the homes and offices of two prominent politicians, including the first prime minister after Saddam Hussein.
Both politicians were out of the country at the time.
The explosion took place in a neighborhood bordering the U.S.-protected Green Zone in western Baghdad, less than a quarter-mile from buildings that included the home and office compound of Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, and offices of Saleh al-Mutlaq, the head of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, a Sunni political bloc.
It was the second bombing in two days to strike guards of Allawi, who is on a short list of possible future national leaders and a fierce critic of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
On Monday, police said a roadside bomb targeted a vehicle carrying guards for Allawi in the same neighborhood. Two guards were wounded, as were three policemen and a civilian, officials said.
Although the attacks caused few casualties, the fact that they occurred at all in a relatively secure part of the city is troublesome. U.S. troops have managed to shut down numerous car-bomb factories around the city, reducing the number and intensity of bombings in recent months.
But U.S. commanders have warned that security in the capital is still fragile, despite marked improvements since last summer.
Also Tuesday, an anti-al-Qaeda Sunni tribal sheik who was promoting national unity was killed along with his nephew in a drive-by shooting near Tall Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attack was the latest in a series of strikes against Sunnis who have joined forces with the American and Iraqi governments against the terror network.
In the southern city of Basra, the bullet-riddled bodies of a Christian woman and her brother were found in a garbage dump on Monday, police and church officials said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal.
The victims had been kidnapped the day before.
Basra’s police chief, Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf, has said patrols of motorbikes or unlicensed cars with tinted windows are accosting women not wearing traditional dress and head scarves, known as the hijab, and the mutilated bodies of 40 women have been found this year.
