At least 12 Iraqis were killed, including a baby girl, and about 20 people injured in a string of attacks, security officials said Sunday.
A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up near a police checkpoint in southern Baghdad, killing two police commandos and a woman. Elsewhere, near the refinery town of Baiji, gunmen shot dead four oil inspectors in drive-by attack, while another two people were killed, including an 18-month-old infant, in a roadside bombing in northern Baghdad.
Iraqi police have also found the tortured body of a prominent local contractor who was abducted in Kirkuk, with a message on his chest, "This is the verdict of Allah", police said.
According to AFP, Shirzad Najm Jirgis was involved in a number of government and civil projects in Kirkuk and was nabbed Saturday morning while on his way to work. His tortured and handcuffed body was located on Kirkuk-Baghdad road, police said, adding that he was shot in one eye.
In another attack, doctor Khalid Abdullah working in the city hospital of Hawija, west of Kirkuk, was shot dead late on Saturday by gunmen who barged into the hospital. Elsewhere, 12 people were injured early on Sunday in two roadside blasts which went off in quick succession on a central street in Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
The bombs went off near a restaurant on Al-Sadun Street. In a separate incident, five people were wounded when their car collided with a US armoured vehicle in Baghdad early Sunday, the official said.
A huge blast rocked central Baghdad on Sunday and smoke was seen rising from inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and Iraqi government. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the explosion, which occurred shortly before midday, the AP reported.
