Al Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Recent Deadly Attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD – An Al Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for two recent attacks that killed 40 people and wounded scores.

The Islamic State of Iraq says in a statement posted on its website Tuesday that it was behind a July 5 double bombing at a local government building in Taji.

The group said it sent a car bomb and a suicide bomber to the building just north of Baghdad. But officials have blamed at least one of the blasts on a roadside bomb.

Thirty-seven people were killed and 54 wounded in the Taji attack.

The terror group said it also masterminded a June 26 attack by a suicide bomber in a wheelchair who killed three and wounded 18 at a police station in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad.