Iraq: Violence continued in Iraq yesterday ahead of the first meeting of the National Assembly next Wednesday with the deaths of nearly two dozen people.
A suicide bomber blew up a car outside an army officer's house in Balad, north of Baghdad, killing 12 people. In the nearby town of Baquba, insurgents attacked soldiers and police with a suicide bomb, mortars and landmines, killing at least 10 people.
Al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Police in Baquba, 65km northeast of Baghdad, said the attack began when five Iraqi soldiers were killed in an ambush. A suicide car bomb then hit police heading to the area, killing two. Three people were killed by roadside bombs.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead a policeman.
In Mosul, a woman who ran in the January 30th elections for the Shia alliance was shot dead on Sunday. Hana Muhamasji, a professor, was a Sunni candidates on the alliance list. - (Reuters)