At least 4 killed, 18 wounded in bomb attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed and 18 wounded in three car bomb explosions in central Iraq on Sunday, the police said.

In the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a car bomb went off near a police patrol in the central district of Karrada and killed a police officer and a policeman, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Two policemen and three civilians were also wounded by the blast, which destroyed a police vehicle and caused damage to the nearby buildings, the source said.

In a separate incident, a booby trapped car went off near a Shiite shrine in the town of Madain, some 30 km southeast of Baghdad, killing two civilians and injuring nine others, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Iranian pilgrims at the shrine were among the wounded people, the source said.

In the central-eastern province of Diyala, Mohammed Jawad al- Timimi, chief of the provincial traffic police directorate, escaped unharmed a car bomb explosion near his convoy near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blast apparently narrowly missed Timimi's convoy, wounding four passers-by instead, the source said.

Earlier in the day, the police reportedly said 14 people were killed and 26 wounded in a series of bomb and gunfire attacks, including six car bombs, on Sunday morning.

Violence and sporadic high profile attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease of violence over the past few years.

from XINHUA
2012-09-30 18:13:12

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7 killed, 16 wounded in Iraq's violence

BAGHDAD, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and 16 others injured Wednesday in separate gunfire and bomb attacks in Iraq, the police said.

In Baghdad, gunmen broke into a house at Zaafaraniyah district in southeastern the capital and slaughtered a woman and three of her children, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The victims had their throats cut by the knives of the unidentified attackers, the source said, adding that the Iraqi police launched an investigation into the incident.

In a separate incident, five civilian were injured when a booby- trapped car detonated in Bab al-Sharji area in downtown Baghdad, the source added.

In addition, a roadside bomb went off at al-Mowasalat district in western Baghdad, wounding three civilians, he said.

Separately, the police found the body of a government employee with bullet holes in his chest and head at Baghdad's central district of Karrada, he added.

In west of Baghdad, a civilian was killed and three other injured when a roadside bomb exploded in the town of Saqlawiyah near the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, gunmen stormed the house of a member of a government-backed Awakening Council group in a village located some 110 km northeast of Baghdad, killing his wife and wounding him before they fled the scene, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

The Awakening Council group, also known as Sons of Iraq movement or Sahwa, consists of mostly anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent militant groups, who turned their rifles to fight al-Qaida network after Sahwa's leaders became dismayed by al-Qaida's brutality and religious zealotry in the country.

In a separate incident, gunmen attacked an Iraq army checkpoint in al-Adheim area, some 100 km north of Baghdad, wounding four soldiers, the source said.

Also in the Diyala, Iraqi security forces arrested 49 suspects, including 18 wanted individuals, in separate operations across the province during the past 24 hours, the source added.

The attacks came a day after a series of deadly attacks that killed 45 people and wounded some 212 wounded. Tuesday's attacks mostly targeted Iraqi security forces across the country, in what appeared to be an attempt by insurgent groups to destabilize the country ahead of the Arab summit scheduled on March 29.

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