Suicide Bombings Kill 5 Near Mosul

Iraqi authorities say at least five people have been killed in a double suicide bombing in northern Iraq.

Police say the separate blasts occurred early Saturday near an Iraqi military base northwest of Mosul. No other details were immediately available.

The blasts followed a car bomb attack on an Iraqi police convoy in Tikrit late Friday that killed at least two civilians and wounded 24 other people, including several police officers.

Separately, police say gunmen shot dead Sunni tribal leader Sabhan Khalaf al-Jibouri late Friday outside his home in the northern city of Kirkuk.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have been operating in the north against insurgents.

Farther south, some 40,000 Iraqi forces will cordon off Baghdad for a major crackdown in the capital beginning next week.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.