A roadside bomb killed the police chief from Iraq's Babel province south of Baghdad on Sunday, police said. They said Major-General Qais al-Mamouri was killed when the bomb hit his convoy near the provincial capital Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad. Two guards died in the attack and six were hurt, police said, according to Reuters.
Also Sunday, a suicide car bomb killed two Iraqi troops and injured seven in the city of Baiji, an army source said. The army source in Baiji, 180 km north of Baghdad, said the two soldiers died when the bomber rammed into their checkpoint.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials have proposed holding the next round of talks between the US and Iran to discuss security in Iraq next month and Tehran is studying the offer, Iran's Foreign Ministry said Sunday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Tehran has received a number of suggestions and recommendations from the Iraqi officials and they are proposing next January as the time for the next round of discussions.
"We are now studying the proposal and we will decide about the level of participation," he told reporters at his weekly news conference in Tehran. Iran said in November it had agreed to hold a new round of talks with US officials over Iraq.
