Gunmen shot and killed two Iraqi journalists, including one who was killed in his home near Fallujah along with seven family members, police and medical officials reported Wednesday.
Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi died Monday when gunmen broke into his home about 10 miles west of Fallujah, the AP reported. Al-Essawi was shot dead along with his wife, son, parents and three other relatives, said Dr. Anas al-Rawi of Fallujah General Hospital.
In Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, gunmen killed Nazar Abdul-Wahid as he stood on a city street Wednesday, according to a police official in the city. Abdul-Wahid worked as a reporter for several Iraqi newspapers and the Voices of Iraq Internet news agency.
The 33-year-old father of two was standing on the sidewalk in central Amarah when gunmen in a pickup truck shot him to death, police said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Iraqi and U.S. troops cordoned off sections of Baghdad's Sadr City slum Wednesday and conducted a series of raids after five British citizens were kidnapped from a nearby government building, police and residents said.
British Embassy officials held ongoing talks Wednesday with Iraqi officials to discuss the situation, Britain's Foreign Office said.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said officials were doing all they could to secure the "swift and safe return" of the five. "This is clearly a very distressing time for all concerned," she said.
Two civilians were killed and four others wounded in crossfire from gunbattles that broke out in one of the raids, police said. A roadside bomb that apparently targeted a passing police patrol in Sadr City, missed and killed one civilian and wounded four others, police said.
In other violence, several mortar rounds apparently targeting an American military base in the restive city of Fallujah missed their mark and landed instead on a courthouse and in a residential neighborhood, killing nine civilians and wounding 15 others, according to police and Dr. Anas al-Rawi, of Fallujah General Hospital.
A police commander's convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in the town of Hamzah, south of Baghdad, killing two guards and injuring two others, a police officer said.
