Reporting from Baghdad — At least 23 people were killed in a pair of bombings Friday in Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.
A bomb exploded inside the city's fortified government compound as people finished afternoon prayers, killing 18, security sources said.
Later in the day a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside the city's hospital as Sunni Muslim parliament member Mutasher Samarrai visited. Five more people were killed, according to security sources, but Samarrai emerged unscathed. Groups such as Al Qaeda in Iraq regularly target Sunni government officials for participating in the political process.
