Four Iraqi policemen died on Thursday, including two who were killed when a car rigged with explosives and stuffed with a corpse blew up when they came to retrieve the body, a official said.
Iraqi policemen found the car parked in the Al-Amel district of central Baghdad with a corpse inside. When the policemen approached to examine the body, the vehicle exploded, killing two of them and wounding another six, the security official said, according to AFP.
Another two policemen were killed and two more wounded when gunmen opened fire on the traffic police chief's convoy as it passed through a district of northern Baghdad near the Sunni al-Nida mosque, an official said.
In other violence at least 12 people were killed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government admitted on Thursday that policemen were behind the slaughter of 70 Sunnis in a northern town. At least 13 policemen were briefly detained in connection with Tuesday's killing spree in Tal Afar.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered a full investigation into the bombing and shootings. Interior Minister Jawad Bolani, an independent Shiite in the Shiite-dominated government, confirmed that the perpetrators were policemen, of whom an overwhelming majority are Shiites. "We will take legal action against a group of them. An order has been issued by the prime minister to investigate the violations caused by elements of the police in Tal Afar," Bolani told Iraqiya television.
