Police: 8 killed in attacks across Iraq

[November 24, 2010]  BAGHDAD (AP) -- Eight people have been killed across Iraq in separate drive-by shootings and a roadside bomb that targeted members of an anti-al-Qaida militia, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

In the most deadly attack, a roadside bomb killed four people Wednesday in the town of Shurqat, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad.

Three of the dead were members of the Sons of Iraq, a Sunni militia that has been instrumental in lessening al-Qaida's deadly role in Iraq. Members of the group are often targeted by al-Qaida out of revenge and to intimidate others from joining the group.

A Shurqat police official said that first, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in Shurqat. The town is north of Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit.

No one was killed in that bombing but as people gathered nearby to assess the damage, another roadside blast exploded just five minutes later and killed the three Sunni militia members and one bystander. Ten civilians were also wounded by the second blast.

Dr. Abdullah Hassan of the Shurqat police department confirmed the death toll.

Late Tuesday, a surgeon and an engineer at Baghdad International Airport were gunned down in a mostly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, police said. A worker at Yarmouk hospital confirmed the killings.

Separately, police and hospitals officials said an Education Ministry professor was shot in another Sunni area in northeastern Baghdad.

Police also said a passer-by was slain in a drive-by shooting in the northeastern city of Kirkuk.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

[Associated Press; By SAAD ABDUL-KADIR]

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