Widespread attacks kill 14 in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-16 21:07

In the latest violence, a car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol killed six civilians and wounded 11 Thursday in northern Baghdad's Shula neighborhood, said police Maj. Moussa Abdul Karim.

Three prominent tribal figures driving to a funeral were killed by gunmen spraying machine-gun fire from a minibus in Khan Bani Saad, about 25 miles northeast of Baghdad, Diyala police's Joint Coordination Center said.

Police identified the victims as Sheik Mindab al-Khafaji, 55, a clan leader and head of Khan Bani Saad tribal council; Sheik Hanash al-Moussaoui, 45, a member of Khan Bani Saad's local council; and Raad Ahmed Chibish al-Jibouri, 45, a Sunni Arab member of the tribal council.

"We condemn these criminal acts directed against our brothers," said Abdul-Rassoul Saeed, head of Khan Bani Saad council. "The aim of this attack is to ignite civil strife, but such efforts will fail."

Khan Bani Saad is a predominantly Sunni Arab town of about 40,000 people on the edge of Diyala province, which borders Baghdad. It has been the scene of previous attacks targeting religious leaders and supporters of U.S.-led reconstruction

In downtown Ramadi, gunmen also killed the brother of the deputy governor of the volatile western Anbar province, police Lt. Khalid al-Dulaimi said.

An Iraqi policeman was killed and three bystanders were wounded by a car bomb in Baghdad's Karradah neighborhood, while gunmen killed an Iraqi Army captain and his driver in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.

Three prominent Iraqi tribal members were also fatally shot in a drive-by attack on their car north of Baghdad, police said. A Jordanian Embassy driver of Iraqi nationality was seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting in western Baghdad, said a hospital official who initially said the victim had died.

Another car bomb blast in Baghdad targeted the convoy of Nouri al-Nouri, a former government human rights official who was dismissed in December over the discovery of tortured detainees in a Baghdad government building. Al-Nouri escaped the blast unharmed but four civilians were wounded, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.

The motive for the attack was unclear, but it came as Othman, the human rights minister, said several Interior and Justice Ministry employees were expected to be prosecuted over the torture about 170 Iraqis, most found in November at the Jadriyah Interior Ministry facility in Baghdad.

Othman said her ministry will release a final report on the torture claims next month.

In a statement on the detainee abuse photos broadcast on an Australian TV station Wednesday, al-Jaafari said "the Iraqi government condemns the torture practices revealed through the recent pictures that show Iraqi prisoners being tortured."

But he welcomed the U.S. denunciation of the pictures, which date back to 2003, when earlier images were released of U.S. forces abusing detainees.