BAGHDAD, July 9 (Reuters) - Two roadside bombs killed six people and wounded 18 outside a bank in the Iraqi city of Falluja on Wednesday, police said. The two blasts happened in quick succession in Falluja, in western Anbar province. One struck a police unit guarding the bank, as retirees queued up to collect their pensions, police said. A second bomb detonated a few minutes later, hitting a police convoy that had arrived to evacuate casualties. Four policemen were among the dead. Police did not say who was behind the attack, but Sunni Islamist al Qaeda is often blamed for bombings in Anbar. The U.S. military has said al Qaeda would try to stage a comeback in Anbar, where the militant group once controlled swathes of territory before Sunni Arab tribal leaders joined U.S. forces in late 2006 to largely drive the gunmen out. A suicide bomber last month killed 20 people in Anbar. An al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the attack. The U.S. military plans to transfer security control of Anbar to Iraqi forces soon, although no new date has been set after bad weather delayed a handover ceremony late last month. (Reporting by Khalid al-Ansary; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Caroline Drees)
An Iraqi girl offers water to soldiers of the Iraqi army elite mobile 3rd Brigade 1st Division as they search her house during a joint operation with U.S. Marines in Huseiniya, ...