Gunmen ambushed two Shiite houses south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing three members of one family and injuring two of their neighbors, police said. According to the AP, a parked car bomb also targeted a police patrol in a mainly Shiite in central Baghdad, killing at least five bystanders and injuring 10, including three policemen, police said.
Eight attackers drove up in three cars at 7:30 a.m., storming into one house and killing a man, his wife and their 23-year-old daughter in Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. The gunmen then attacked a second house, injuring a husband and wife, according to police.
Meanwhile, the new top U.S. commander in Iraq said Saturday that the situation is "not hopeless" as American and Iraqi forces move to end the sectarian violence threatening to tear apart the country. Gen. David Petraeus made the comments at a ceremony during which he officially took control of U.S. forces in Iraq from Gen. George Casey.
"The stakes are high. The way ahead will be hard but it is not hopeless," he said. "We can and we must prevail. This mission is doable."
