Nine Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded in attacks around the country on Monday, police and medics said, as insurgents continued to strike at Iraq’s fledgling security forces.
Four people were killed and nine wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into two police vehicles at a roadside checkpoint early in the day in south-west Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
Two of those killed were police officers burned to death in their vehicle.
Medics said six police officers and three civilians were wounded in the attack in Saydiyah district and taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Two more people were killed when a parked car exploded at about 6.15pm local time in the crowded southern business district of Dura, the official said.
Earlier, a car bomb wounded five Iraqi soldiers and three civilians near an army checkpoint in eastern Baghdad, police said.
Baghdad has seen near-daily car bomb attacks over the past three weeks.
Elsewhere, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Dalaf al-Qaissy, head of the defence force at Baiji oil refinery, 200km north of Baghdad, was gunned down by assailants as he left for work, police Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Salah said.
Dr Khalid al-Juburi said ”the victim’s body was found riddled with 22 bullets”.
Truck driver Sami Nazar Ali was killed by insurgents who attacked a United States-escorted convoy in Ishaki, 100km north of Baghdad, police said.
And an Iraqi soldier was killed by a roadside bomb as a US-Iraqi convoy passed Shabab village near Dujail, 40km outside the capital, said army Captain Muayad al-Shadeedi. Four suspects were arrested. — Sapa-AFP