At least 46 killed, 37 injured in Iraq attacks (Roundup)

Dec 17, 2007, 15:00 GMT

Baghdad - At least 46 people were killed and 37 injured in a spate of attacks across Iraq, including random shooting by a US force in Mosul and an assault by insurgents with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Diyala province, security sources and media reports said Monday.

In the northern city of Mosul, a US patrol opened fire on civilians after a bomb went off targeting their vehicles, security sources told the Voices of Iraq VOI news agency.

A man was killed and two people were injured in the shooting, including a woman, according to the sources.

Also in Mosul, 400 kilometres north of Baghdad, a truck bomb was detonated near a bridge on the River Tigris in the vicinity of the Mosul dam, VOI quoted General Abdel-Karim al-Juburi from the Mosul police as saying.

The attack left a guard dead and another injured, and caused damage to the bridge, which is 200 metres away from the dam.

In another attack, a suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up near a car park and a market in Baladruz near Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, killing five people and injuring 25, security sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Also in Baquba, four members of a tribal police squad were killed when gunmen attacked their offices in Sahwa district.

In a separate incident, two policemen were injured by a bomb that hit their patrol in the village of Harunyah near Baquba in Diyala province.

In more violence in the restive province, insurgents from the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq attacked the two villages of Dojma and Sufayt.

Joint army and police forces backed by members of the local clan of Ubayd clashed with the assailants, killing 35 of them and arresting 15, the commander of Diyala operations, General Abdel-Karim al-Rubay, told VOI.

The Islamic State of Iraq - a Sunni insurgent group set up in 2006 - is made up of seven factions, the largest of which is al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

In southern Baghdad, four army personnel and three civilians were injured by a bomb, police sources told VOI.