Blasts in Iraq, 7 killed

BAGHDAD: An Iraqi police officer says blasts have killed seven people in the western province of Anbar.

Col. Fadhil Nimrawi says the first explosion targeted the house of the director of the anti-terrorism unit in the town of Hit, about 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The director was wounded and his mother, two sisters and a child were killed.

Nimrawi says a lawyer was killed by another bomb at his home. Two other explosions at separate locations also occurred on Thursday morning.

The blasts follow last week’s attack on Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which wounded the Anbar governor and killed 24. The Islamic state of Iraq, a group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack.