Roadside bombings and other attacks killed six people across Iraq on Saturday, including a child and the wife of a former police lieutenant colonel, officials said. Violence has plummeted across Iraq since its height in 2006 and 2007 but attacks continue, especially in and around northern cities like Mosul.
In Qayara, 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Mosul, a roadside bomb exploded next to a joint police and army patrol, killing two policemen and one soldier, a police officer said. A doctor confirmed the deaths. A second roadside bomb went off next to an Iraqi army patrol in the Hamam al-Alil area, about 16 miles (25 kilometers) south of Mosul, killing a soldier and a child, according to another police officer who said he had no other details.
In the city of Fallujah, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of the capital, three bombs went off at dawn at the house of Tariq Fawaz, a former police lieutenant colonel who is now a schoolteacher, a police officer said. The bomb injured Fawaz, his son and two neighbours and killed his wife, the officer said. In all cases, the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release information to the press.
In the wake of the April 4 triple suicide bombings that killed 40 outside the German and Iranian embassies and the Egyptian consulate in Baghdad, Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani visited all three missions Saturday to provide assurances.
In a statement posted Friday on a militant Web site, the Islamic State of Iraq, which includes al Qaida, claimed responsibility and called the attacks a ``new strike into the heart of the security plan' in Baghdad. It also said ``all diplomatic corps, embassies and international organisations' dealing with the Iraqi government are ``legitimate targets.' Al-Bolani said he told officials that Iraq's government and security forces were committed to providing the ``best security atmosphere' possible. ``Terrorism is a risk to all countries, and we have to cooperate to counter it,' he said.
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