Baghdad, Dec 02: At least nine people were killed
around Iraq today as insurgents and sectarian militia launched
gun and bomb attacks in the region around the war-torn capital
Baghdad.
A further three people were killed when a truck hit a
crowd south of the city, but doctor Hamed Hussein -- whose
hospital received the victims -- said it was thought to have
been an accident rather than a deliberate attack.
North of Baghdad, suspected Sunni insurgents opened fire
on a convoy carrying Shiite corpses south from the town of
Khalis en route for the holy city of Najaf and its huge
cemetery, police said.
Two Shiites were killed in the attack and two more
civilians died when gunmen opened fire in Khalis market, an
officer told media persons.
Iraqi police clashed briefly with militia fighters in
Samawa, 250 kilometres south of the capital, in a battle which
left one 14-year-old male bystander dead, police there said.
For the past three days there have been intermittent
clashes in the southern town as rival militias, some of whom
control the security agencies, battle it out in a province
that has been handed over to Iraqi control.
Roadside boobytraps exploded outside Iskandariyah and
Musayyib just south of Baghdad, killing two motorists, while a
larger blast outside Yusifiyah killed a police officer and
wounded six more, police said.
In the capital itself, assassins gunned down interior
ministry official captain Haider Musa in Jadida district in
the east of the city, a security official told media persons.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, December 02, 2006, 00:00