A neighborhood police chief on Monday was killed and a suicide bomber attacked a patrol guarding a holy shrine in a series of attacks targeting Iraqi security forces that left at least eight people dead, including four police officers.
According to The AP, gunmen opened fire on a car carrying police Col. Abdul Karim Fahad Abbas as he was on his way to work in the southeastern Doura quarter, killing the neighborhood station chief and his driver, Capt. Falah al-Muhimadawi said.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in the Hay Al-Amil area, killing one policeman and wounding five others, Capt. Thalib Thamir said.
In Musayyib, some 60 kms south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up, targeting a police patrol that was protecting a holy shrine. Two policemen and three civilians were killed, police and hospital officials said. At least five others were injured.
In another incident, at least seven people were killed and nine injured when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle near a crowd of Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad, Reuters reported. The attack took place on the road from Karbala to Hilla.
Also Monday, Al-Arabiya correspondent Jawad Kadhim reported on the Arab TV station that Iraqi police arrested correspondent Wael Essam. According to Kadhim, Essam arrived in Iraq four days ago on assignment and was stopped by a police checkpoint on the road to the airport, Kadhim said.
Kadhim said he spoke with Essam after his arrest, and he called on Iraq's Interior Ministry to intervene.
