Attackers kill 6 in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Shootings and a bombing in northern Iraq killed six people on Sunday, including a local government official in the latest outburst of violence roiling the country.

Also on Sunday, a spokesman for Iraq's prime minister said that outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit Iraq later this week. It will be the Iranian leader's second visit to neighboring Iraq while in office.

Police officials said Sunday's first attack happened early in the day when gunmen killed two soldiers in an assault on their security checkpoint in the restive city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Hours later, a roadside bomb killed a municipal council member and his son in a town near Mosul. Gunmen in another area just south of Mosul also sprayed a security checkpoint with bullets, killing two policemen.

Hospital officials confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraqi is being hit by its worst waves of violence in years, raising fears the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006 and 2007. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April.

Violence has spiked since the start of the holy month of Ramadan. On Sunday, attacks in Iraq killed at least 24 people, most of them near Sunni mosques in Baghdad as late-evening prayers held during the holy month were ending.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, said Ahmadinejad plans to arrive for a visit to Iraq on Thursday. He said Ahmadinejad would meet with senior Iraqi officials and visit Shiite holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala during the two-day visit.

Ahmadinejad, who leaves office in August, visited Iraq for the first time in March 2008.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/attackers-kill-6-northern-iraq-130642658.html

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