During the attack on Khalis, according to Ahmed Rasheed of Reuters: "One car bomb exploded in a commercial area and a second at a major police checkpoint leading to the police headquarters and court building, police said. A third bomber attacked police patrols rushing to the scene."
Reuters sources put the casualties at 40 dead and at least 80 wounded. One source reported that there had actually been four explosions, but there has been no confirmation of that account.
The confusion may stem from a bombing that occurred at almost the same time in the Shaab neighborhood in northeastern Baghdad. The Shaab attack has been reported as either one or two suicide bombers detonating in a market crowded with women and children, killing an estimated 60 and wounding scores more.
While levels of violence have dipped in Baghdad following the latest American security plan, bombings and civilian casualties are on the rise outside of the capital. According to the AP, US Army Gen. David Petreus has blamed the violence on al Qaeda elements, and has also said the surge in attacks in Tal Afar and other cities was posing a challenge to bringing long-term stability to Iraq, but he expressed confidence in the U.S.-Iraqi crackdown on violence, now in its seventh week.
"He said al-Qaida fighters had failed to incite sectarian violence despite increased attacks in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, Anbar to the west, and the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul.
"They did succeed in Tal Afar in killing a number of innocent civilians in a predominantly Shia marketplace that touched off ... we're still trying to get the exact details of what happened but it appears that there clearly were some kind of retribution killings by police," Petraeus told The Associated Press and another news agency in a brief interview.
