Baghdad - Four Iraqis were killed in a Tikrit car bomb and
two finance ministry officials were shot dead Sunday in Jamya, west
Baghdad, while police discovered nine bodies across Khalis in the
province of Diyala, north-east of the capital.
Arrests and more violence were also reported in Baquba and Samara
in northern Iraq.
Four people were killed and eight wounded when an explosive-laden
vehicle was detonated in central Tikrit, 180 kilometres north of
Baghdad, on Sunday evening.
Witnesses reported the incident to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa
describing the blast as 'intense.' Black smoke covered the area, they
said, while nearby cars and buildings suffered destructions.
'The bodies of Qutayba Badr al-Din Mahmud, who is a consultant at
the finance ministry, and Osama Kazem Muhammad, an employee at the
ministry, were found Sunday morning in a car in Jamya district in
west Baghdad,' Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency quoted security
sources as saying.
Despite slightly improved security in Baghdad, state employees are
still targets of attacks, sources said.
Police said nine bodies had been found across Khalis, in Diyala
province, north-east of Baghdad, VOI reported.
In another development, the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars
condemned a joint US-Iraqi raid on a religious college in Baghdad's
Azamya district on Saturday and the arrests of students, academics
and guards.
'The arrests happened when the force raided the college building
and armoured vehicles encircled it,' VOI quoted a statement by the
association as saying.
'Members of the force stormed the college's offices and
departments using sound bombs that smashed doors and windows,' the
statement added.
A US military statement issued on Saturday said a joint US-Iraqi
force entered the Abu-Hanifa mosque in Azamya district early that
morning and detained 12 people including two terrorists.
'The captured terrorists are suspected of improvised explosive
device emplacement, kidnapping, murder of Iraqi civilians and attacks
against Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces throughout
Baghdad,' the statement said.
Also on Sunday, three soldiers known as peshmerga from Iraq's
Kurdish Autonomous Region were killed and five wounded in an ambush
on their patrol near the city of Baquba.
Gunmen ambushed a group of peshmerga soldiers en route from
Baghdad to the northern city of Sulaymanyah, Kurdish security sources
told dpa.
The attack occurred in Habhab, which is part of Baquba, 60
kilometres north-east of Baghdad.
Also in Baquba, four alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq leaders were
arrested, according to local police sources without giving further
details.
Meanwhile, a man and a woman were killed in random fire during
clashes between the US military and militants in the Seif Saad area
of western Baquba, authorities said.
In a separate incident, a senior police officer and two civilians
were shot dead Sunday on a road in Samara, 120 kilometres north of
Baghdad.
The three bodies were found riddled with gunshot wounds in a car
they had been travelling in, Tikrit police sources told dpa.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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