Middle East News
Three killed in Basra blast (1st Lead)
Apr 7, 2008, 12:27 GMT
Baghdad - An explosion in the southern Iraqi city of Basra destroyed a house and left three people dead, the US military and witnesses said Monday, while a senior Iraqi security official survived a bomb attack in the city.
A large explosion destroyed a house in Asdiqa area in the centre of Basra, the US military said in a statement.
The number of casualties is not known but the coalition and Iraqi troops had nothing to do with the incident, the military said.
But witnesses at the scene of the blast told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa that the house was hit by shells fired from a helicopter.
A family of three was killed in the shelling, the witnesses said.
Also in Basra, General Abdel-Karim Khalaf, the spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry, escaped unscathed a bomb attack on his motorcade in Nashwa district, police said.
Two guards were injured in the attack.
Basra has been centre stage of a government crackdown launched on March 25 against Shiite militias and outlaws in the oil-rich province.
In Baghdad, a student was shot dead by a sniper while he was standing in the playground of a school on Palestine Street in east Baghdad, according to witnesses.
No further details were immediately available.
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