An Iraqi soldier was killed and 12 others wounded Friday (November 18th) when a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber exploded in Yusufiyah, Baghdad.

"The attack targeted an Iraqi army barracks in Yusufiyah. We have information that the perpetrators are [members of] al-Qaeda," Col. Hekmat Mahmoud al-Mesari, director of the media and public relations department in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, told Al-Shorfa.

"The goal was to destroy the military barracks located at a crossroad used by the terrorists in transporting weapons and explosives; something that made them try to get rid of it," he said.

In Mosul, the police chief of Dawassa, south of city, was killed when an improvised explosive device targeting his motorcade exploded Thursday evening.

A civilian was also killed in the blast, and three other security personnel were wounded.

"The police chief died a martyr while defending his country against terrorist plans," Ministry of Interior spokesperson Maj. Gen. Adil Daham said in a press conference held Friday.

Daham accused al-Qaeda of carrying out the attack. "We promise a very strong response against al-Qaeda to this terrorist operation in the coming hours. The Interior Ministry will not keep silent about the treachery of those cowards, and will respond with all of its strength."