A bomb near a Sunni mosque in Kirkuk killed one civilian heading to Friday prayers, said police official Sarhat Qadir. Three others were also injured.
Elsewhere, gunmen in the eastern city of Balad Ruz killed police chief Col. Hatim Rashid and another officer at a police station, police Col. Mudhafar al-Jubouri said. A third officer was injured in the attack, some 50 kms northeast of Baghdad.
In Samarra, some 100 kms north of Baghdad, witnesses said two men climbed the 170-foot-tall spiral minaret, then returned to the ground before the explosion, which tore a large hole in the structure, police Lt. Qasim Mohammed said. It was unclear why the minaret, one of Iraq's most famous landmarks, was targeted.
On Thursday, a suicide car bomber blew himself up near an Islamic shrine in Tuz Khormato, south of Kirkuk, killing five Iraqis and wounding 16, hospital officials said.
Also Friday, witnesses said a car bomb went off outside a U.S. base in Ramadi, near a convoy at the base's gate. The U.S. military and Iraqi police did not immediately have information on the blast.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Italy announced timelines to pull forces from Iraq later this year, The AP reported.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said his country's troops will leave Iraq by year's end. On his part, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi also said he plans to trim his contingent of troops at the end of September by about 300 soldiers from his current force of 3,300.
