Al-Qaida in Iraq Claims Responsibility for Tikrit Attack

Al-Qaida in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the March 29 attack in northern Iraq that left 58 people dead and nearly 100 wounded.

The group said Saturday on its website that five al-Qaida members used a car bomb, an explosive belt and grenades during the raid and hostage situation at the provincial council headquarters in Tikrit. Iraqi troops took back the complex after a battle lasting several hours.

Also Saturday,rift gold a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad, wounding three soldiers.

The attack comes a day after police said a suicide bomber killed three people during an attack on a group of soldiers stationed at an army post in Fallujah, 60 kilometers west of Baghdad. Among the dead was an Iraqi army colonel.

Fallujah,rift gold a city in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, was the center of much of the violence during the height of the war in Iraq.