Gunmen stormed a compound of an anti-Qaeda "Awakening" group in Iraq's northern Nineveh province on Sunday, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead, the US military said. In another incident a suicide car bombing killed 19 people and wounded 29 others as it ripped through a market place in a village in central Iraq on Sunday, police said.
Among those killed in the fighting were 10 suspected al Qaeda in Iraq fighters, a military official said. The attack by a large group of suspected al Qaeda fighters took place in the town of Sinjar, about 350 kilometres (220 miles) north-west of Baghdad near the Syrian border, the official said.
Five members of the Awakening group were killed and five wounded. Members of the group counter-attacked, killing 10 of the attackers. Awakening groups, made up mainly of Sunni former insurgents, have been battling al Qaeda in Iraq with the support of the US military for more than a year and have been the target of attack, especially by al Qaeda.
Nineveh and its capital Mosul, with their proximity to Syria-the main entry point for foreign al Qaeda operatives into Iraq-are regarded as among the last bastions of the jihadists after they were chased from Baghdad and its surrounding belts.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on January 25 vowed a "decisive battle" against al Qaeda fighters in the province after a spate of bombings in Mosul that killed dozens including a police chief.