Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility For Iraq Attacks

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for two attacks against its former Sunni Muslim allies that killed at least 43 people on July 18.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber struck members of the government-backed "Sahwa" militia as they lined up to be paid on Baghdad's southwestern outskirts, killing at least 39.

In the second, a suicide bomber killed four and wounded six at a meeting of local Sunni militia leaders in western Iraq, near the Syrian border.

compiled from Reuters reports