Iraq: at least 10 people died in twin car bomb attacks in Tal Afar

Two car bomb and suicide attacks killed at least 10 people and wounded another 15 in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, according to police.

The car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Tal Afar centre. Minutes later, a man wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in a crowd of onlookers.

Tel Afar is not far from the Syrian border, just west of the city of Mosul.

Earlier, a car bomb reportedly killed two people and wounded seven in a western part of the capital, Baghdad.

There has been a rise in attacks in Iraq since US troops left in December, leaving more than 200 people dead.

The violence has come amid a marked deterioration in Iraq’s fragile political process, with the country’s most prominent Sunni Arab politician being sought by the authorities on terrorism charges.