Senior Anti-terror Cop Among 8 killed in Iraq Violance

TIKRIT: Attacks in Iraq on Thursday killed eight people, including a senior anti-terror officer who led a key fight back against Al-Qaeda in his province, police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed al-Fahel, the head of the Saleheddin province anti-terror squad, and at least three of his bodyguards were among five people killed by a suicide bomber in Tikrit, the hometown of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

“The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, who was wearing a vest packed with explosives,” said Colonel Abdel Haadi of the Salaheddin joint operations command.

Seven people were wounded by the blast in a jewellery store, which struck at around 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) in Tikrit, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In another incident in northern Iraq, two soldiers were killed at a checkpoint in the town of Mohallabiyah, 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the main northern city of Mosul, when gunmen opened fire on them before fleeing.

In the capital Baghdad, one person was killed and six wounded by a bomb in Adhamiyah, a predominantly Sunni Arab northern neighbourhood, an interior ministry official said.

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Senior Anti-terror Cop Among 8 killed in Iraq Violance was first posted on December 4, 2009 at 6:08 pm.

Shootings and bombings in Baghdad killed six

BAGHDAD: Shootings and bombings in and around Baghdad killed six people on Sunday, one of them a child, security officials said.

In the deadliest attack, three people were killed and 15 wounded in a bombing in the predominantly Sunni Arab north Baghdad neighbourhood of Adhamiyah, a medic at the Al-Nurman hospital said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Among the dead was a boy in his young teens, the official said.

“I was walking along the street and suddenly I found myself in the hospital,” said 45-year-old Ayad Hassan, who suffered minor leg injuries in the attack and was being treated in Al-Nurman hospital.

In the town of Al-Asriyah, around 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of the capital, one person was killed and nine wounded when a bomb exploded at a bus station in the afternoon, a security official said.

Near Baghdad University in the southwestern neighbourhood of Jadriyah, a roadside bomb killed the driver and wounded three others, police said.

In south Baghdad, a sniper killed a policeman, a medic said.

Although violence has dropped dramatically across Iraq over the past year, attacks in Baghdad and the main northern city of Mosul remain common.

Violent deaths in Iraq dropped by more than half in September from the previous month, with 203 people killed. That was the lowest monthly toll since May.

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Shootings and bombings in Baghdad killed six was first posted on October 19, 2009 at 9:56 am.