BAGHDAD — Two suicide bombings killed at least 24 people and injured up to 100 others north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest attacks to take aim at Iraqi security forces and local volunteers credited with helping to bring about a major drop in violence in former insurgent strongholds.
The attacks in Baiji and Baqubah shattered a period of relative calm as Muslims marked the four-day Eid al-Adha festival, which began last Wednesday for Sunnis and Friday for Shiites. For the first time, the government extended the holiday until Tuesday, when the country's tiny Christian minority celebrated Christmas.
Insurgents have increasingly turned their guns on volunteers, many of whom once fought alongside them. Northern Iraq has suffered many such attacks, as insurgents pushed out of Baghdad and Anbar province seek to establish footholds in the region. Residents in Baqubah said leaflets had been circulated urging them to kill volunteers.
In Tuesday's worst attack, a suicide bomber blew up a truck at a checkpoint in Baiji, site of a major oil refinery, 125 miles north of the capital. Police and hospital officials said at least 25 people were killed and 75 injured. The U.S. military put the toll at 20 dead and 80 injured.
The blast, on a road leading to an oil industry housing complex, ignited cooking gas being sold nearby, police said. A series of secondary explosions collapsed walls, shattered windows and scattered burning canister pieces for hundreds of yards.
Iraqi security force members and local volunteers who were manning the checkpoint were among the dead. But most of the victims were civilians, including women and children who had gathered to buy the fuel, hospital officials said.
"What kind of Islam is this?" asked Ali Arkan, who was asleep in his bed when a large piece of glass smashed into his shoulder. "Surely this is not the Islam that we know. These days we are living are very holy days for Muslims and Christians. . . . Those people have no respect and no relationship with either Christianity or Islam."
He spoke by phone from a hospital bed in Tikrit, where he was taken after the blast.
Khalaf Muhsin had just finished breakfast with his family when the explosion sent pieces of brick, shards of glass and chunks of concrete through his house. He lashed out at the assailants who targeted the security forces and local volunteers.
"Those are our sons who volunteered to protect us," he said. "From where have these hands come to kill us?"
