The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Tikrit

The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe was blown up in a car bomb explosion in the town of Awja north of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

A bomb appeared to have been attached to the underside of Sheikh Ali al-Neda's vehicle, said a police officer in the nearby town of Tikrit, Major Hassan Emhimid.

Neda's driver was also killed and one of his guards was seriously wounded. A spokesman for the Salahuddin provincial governor confirmed the sheikh had been killed.

Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and 17 injured on Monday, including four women from the same family, in triple attacks in Baghdad and the restive Diyala province, according to security officials.

A car bomb, targeting an Iraqi police checkpoint near a shopping centre in Baghdad's district of Karada, killed five people, including one policeman, and injured 10, police sources told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Baghdad has seen a wave of attacks by car bombs in the past two days after a relative period of calm that has seen a decrease in violence in recent months.