Shooting, bombings in Iraq kill at least 24

Shooting and bombings, including two separate overnight suicide attacks targeting Iraqi government forces and an allied militia, killed at least 24 people, officials said on Wednesday. The deadliest of the attacks took place late Tuesday in the town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives-laden belts among a group of soldiers and Sahwa militiamen gathered in the orchard of a local Sahwa leader, killing 12, a police officer said. To maximize casualties, the suicide bombers blew themselves up in sequence: the first detonating among the group and the second at the gate of the compound as people tried to flee, the officer said. The dead included nine soldiers, one a brigade commander, and three militiamen, while 23 were wounded, he said.