Middle East

Bombing near Shiite shrine kills 20

(AP)
Updated: 2007-06-28 11:13

"Before I lost consciousness, I was able to see several stalls collapse or catch fire," al-Taie said. "I saw many frightened people fleeing the place. "

Elsewhere, five policemen were killed in a bombing in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. Four other policemen died when gunmen attacked a police station in the Bashir area about 15 miles south of Kirkuk, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said.

In Baghdad, three rockets or mortars slammed into the fortified Green Zone, which includes major US and Iraqi offices. An Iraqi security official said one round exploded near the US-run hospital and another near the residence of one of al-Maliki's advisers.

There were no reports of casualties, and the official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Five people died and 10 were wounded when a bomb planted under a car exploded in north Baghdad, police said. Three of the injured were police and the other victims were civilians, police said.

In the capital's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, at least one person was killed in an exchange of gunfire when four or five men opened fire on American military police, the US command said. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release information to media.

Associated Press Television News video showed two cars riddled with bullet holes in the windshield. Residents told AP Television that two people died in the shootout but they refused to give their names, presumably for fear of reprisal. They claimed the men were shot by American soldiers who were stuck in a traffic jam and opened fire on cars around them.

Also Wednesday, the US military announced that coalition forces killed a senior al-Qaida leader and his courier, both Turks, in an operation on June 23 in northern Iraq.

Mehmet Yilmaz, also known as Khalid al-Turki, operated a cell that helped move foreign fighters into Iraq for al-Qaida operations, the military statement said. The courier was identified as Mehmet Resit Isik, also known as Khalil al-Turki.