Drive-by shootings killed seven Iraqis in Baghdad on Wednesday, including a college student, a university professor and two brothers selling gas. In addition, police uncovered the bodies of eight people who were apparently kidnapped and tortured.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces killed seven "insurgents" in two operations outside the capital, officials said.
In Wednesday's violence, a drive-by shooting killed a college student riding a minibus and injured three other passengers in Baghdad, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq. The attackers then stopped the bus and abducted another college student, the officer said, according to the AP.
In western Baghdad, gunmen in a speeding car shot two brothers who were selling gasoline at the side of a street in the Iskan neighborhood. A professor at the University of Technology died in a drive-by shooting as he drove in eastern Baghdad, police said.
Gunmen also killed a grocery store owner in his shop, a police officer heading to work and a taxi driver, police said.
Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi military highway checkpoint near the Taji U.S. military base north of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding two, said army Lt. Abbas Kamil.
In Dayera, a rural area about 35 miles south of Baghdad, police uncovered seven bodies of Iraqis, who had been shot in the head, said police Capt. Muthana Khalid. Another body, also shot in the head, was found in the Iskan neighborhood of western Baghdad.
Two roadside bombs also wounded nine Iraqis, including two soldiers in Baghdad, police said.
In another development, a Lebanese man who was kidnapped by unidentified armed men in Iraq two weeks ago has been freed by his abductors and was expected to return home later in the day, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. According to AFP, the ministry said in a statement that Carlos Michel Dakkash had been freed and was on his way to Beirut via Jordan. Dakkash, 43, was kidnapped on May 10.
