IRAQ: Iraqi government official survives assassination attempt in Baghdad as car bombs explode in northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk

An Iraqi government official survived an assassination attempt on Sunday (October 15) when a roadside bomb went off near her convoy in eastern Baghdad, killing four bystanders, the Interior Ministry said. The official, Halla Shaker, who works in the financial department of the Interior Ministry, was travelling in the convoy but was not hurt when the explosion went off in eastern Baghdad, Brigadier Abdul Karim Khalaf said. Five bystanders and one bodyguard were wounded and two cars of the convoy were damaged by the blast. Another roadside bomb exploded in southeastern Baghdad as a foreign convoy drove past, wounding two civilians, police said. One of the sports utility vehicles in the foreign convoy was ablaze after the blast in Al-Ghadeer neighbourhood and U.S. troops sealed off the area. There is no report on the casualties among the passengers of the vehicle or their nationalities. Smoke billowed into the sky and fire engines converged on the scene as U.S military vehicles sealed off the area . Foreign officials and security contractors move around Baghdad in high-profile convoys of four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles accompanied by armed guards. They are a frequent target for insurgents. In the restive northern oil city of Kirkuk, four bombs exploded in apparently coordinated attacks on Sunday, killing seven people a week after a major security crackdown. Police said three of the four blasts were suicide attacks. All took place within an hour, including a bomb that exploded near a girls' school. although police believe the target was the nearby headquarters of an Iraqi force responsible for guarding government installations including oil infrastructures. "At exactly 1100 local (1400gmt) this morning, a car containing explosives exploded in front of a civilian school, a grade school. Which resulted in, current estimates are there are two killed and large number of injured," Police Chief Taha Mohammed said. Police said four policemen and civilians were killed in the attack and 16 wounded, including several students. Iraq has been gripped by sectarian violence between Muslim Shi'ites and Sunnis since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in February. Thousands have been killed in tit-for-tat revenge killings and more than 300,000 have fled their homes. Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed city claimed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen which has seen an upsurge of violence. A spate of near simultaneous car bombs in the city killed more than 20 people on September 17. Roadside bombs are also responsible for most of the deaths among U.S. troops in Iraq. Three U.S. soldiers were also killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said, adding to a toll that, at the current pace, could make October the deadliest month for U.S. forces since January 2005. Nearly 60 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq this month, a rise U.S. commanders have attributed to a surge in violence during the holy month of Ramadan and to more aggressive U.S. operations in Baghdad against sectarian death squads. With three weeks left in a volatile U.S. election campaign, growing public unhappiness with the Iraq war has become the top obstacle for U.S. President George W. Bush's Republican Party in its fight to keep control of Congress.

ITN Source | October 15, 2006

Tags:. .eastern. .ministry. .utility. .estimates. .toll