Three children killed, 14 injured in al-Qaeda raid in Iraq (Roundup)

Oct 29, 2008, 15:27 GMT

Baghdad - Three children were killed on Wednesday and 14 people were injured when al-Qaeda militants attacked a home in Iraq's restive city of Baquba, reported the Voices of Iraq VOI news agency.

The deceased were all the children of Abdel Karim, a leader of the Awakening Council movement, which is a collection of Sunni units that collaborate with US forces in fighting militants from the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.

Seven women were among those injured in the attack, which occurred in the city's Baladruz district. Baquba, the capital of the Diyala province, is about 60 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Also in Diyala, another Awakening Council member died of wounds caused by an explosion in the Abu Sida district, the report said.

In Nineveh province, a policeman was killed and another five policemen were wounded when a bomb struck their convoy south of the provincial capital Mosul, VOI reported.

And in western Mosul, an assassin shot and killed an Iraqi soldier in the al-Tank neighbourhood. Mosul is at the centre of the province and some 400 kilometres north of Iraq's capital Baghdad.

Separately, US forces handed over the security file of Wassit province to Iraq's security forces amid celebrations.

Wassit is the thirteenth province to take over responsibility for security operations from the US forces. It is located some 170 kilometres south-east of Baghdad.

US forces still control Baghdad and four of Iraq's northern provinces.

Meanwhile, Poland marked the end of its mission in Iraq with a ceremony on to welcome the last returning contingent of soldiers in the north-western city of Szczecin.

Some 100 Polish soldiers landed Tuesday morning at a nearby airport, marking the end of the country's five-year mission.

'There is no good war,' Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at the ceremony. 'War always brings evil, blood, suffering and casualties, but the sacrifices of a soldier for his country has the deepest meaning.'

Tusk said the mission served Poland's defence, and that the soldiers left Iraq safer than it was five years ago. Tusk had promised a quick withdrawal during his election campaign.

Poland deployed some 2,500 soldiers to Iraq in 2003, but later slowly reduced its contingent to 900. Twenty-two Polish soldiers were killed in Iraq, along with three security personnel and two journalists.

In other developments, the Central Criminal Court of Iraq condemned to death an Iraqi man found guilty of torturing and killing two US soldiers, the US forces said on Wednesday.

The two soldiers were brutally tortured, then killed in June 2006 after an attack on a roadblock in the town of Yusufiya, south-west of Baghdad. Their bodies were found three days later, according to the Iraqi Defence Ministry.

Two other men who were accomplices in the attack were found not guilty. The investigation and the trial were carried out under Iraqi law.

Under the law, Iraqis condemned to death have 30 days to appeal the verdict.