By Rajat Kumar
At least 19 people were killed and 65 were wounded after armed men stormed into a government building in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, right after a suicide bomber detonated explosives, clearing the way for the attack.

Al-Jazeera reported a police officer saying that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt outside the provincial council building in Tikrit, immediately after which, gunmen occupied into the building. The men who wore the uniforms of security forces, reportedly threw hand grenades and opened fire at a checkpoint of the Salahuddin provincial council building before they stormed it.

Al Jazeera reported from the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, that there hasn't been this kind of attack since a Baghdad church was seized in November. Overall violence in the nation has declined sharply since the peak in 2006-7 of sectarian violence that was triggered after the 2003 invasion of the country by the U.S.A. However, bombings and attacks still remain a daily occurrence.

Salahuddin province, which is home to Saddam's family, continues to receive frequent attacks from fighters opposed to the current government in Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew himself up in mid-January, killing at least 50 people in a crowd waiting outside a police recruitment center in Tikrit. The blast, which injured up to 150 people, was the first major strike in Iraq since the formation of a new government on December, 21.

The security forces in Iraq are now solely responsible for the nation's security, as the U.S.A. has declared a formal end to combat operations in the country at the end of August.