Baghdad ? A woman with explosives strapped to her body attacked the office of a Sunni group that had turned against al-Qaida in Iraq – one of two suicide bombings in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad that left at least 22 people dead Friday.

An Iraqi official claimed the woman was seeking revenge for her two sons who were killed fighting for al-Qaida.

The two brazen attacks were the latest in a series of al-Qaida assaults against members of the new “awakening groups” – mostly Sunnis including former insurgents who have begun cooperating with the Americans to rid their communities of extremists.

The first attack occurred at midmorning in Muqdadiyah when a woman detonated explosives in front of the building housing the office of the 1920 Revolution Brigade, a Sunni insurgent group whose members in the area switched sides this year and joined the fight against al-Qaida.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Tamimi said 15 people were killed and 20 wounded. U.S. officials put the toll at 12 dead and 17 wounded.

Later Friday, a suicide car bomber struck at a checkpoint about 10 miles away, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and three members of a local anti-al-Qaida group, Iraqi army Capt. Saad al-Zuhairi said.

Al-Zuhairi, who was about 150 yards away, said the driver detonated his explosives when the guards asked to search the car.

Ibrahim Bajalan, the head of the Diyala provincial council, said the female bomber was a former member of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party whose two sons joined al-Qaida and were killed by Iraqi security forces.

“She wanted to avenge the killing of her two sons,” he told The Associated Press, quoting what he said were reports from officials at the scene.

Jassim Jerad, a former Iraqi soldier who was injured in the Muqdadiyah bombing, said he saw a woman approaching the offices, then felt the force of the blast.

“I fell down, but stood up quickly to save my son, who was screaming,” he said from his hospital bed, while his 6-year-old son wept nearby.