Violence in Iraq kills ministry officials, civilians (2nd Roundup)

Nov 4, 2007, 16:18 GMT

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.