SIX ARE KILLED, 67 WOUNDED IN IRAQI CITIES

The carnage in Iraq continues to escalate. On Saturday, six people were killed and 67 wounded as Iraq spirals out of control.

6 Are Killed and 67 Hurt in Bombings in Iraq Cities

SAM DAGHER and AMIR A. AL-OBEIDI

Published: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, July 12, 2009 at 5:09 a.m.

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BAGHDAD — At least 6 people were killed and 67 others wounded Saturday in bombings in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, according to witnesses and Iraqi security officials.AC = -->
The attack in Mosul killed at least 4 and wounded 35 and involved a car bomb on a street in the neighborhood of Kokjali on the city’s eastern side, said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the attack with the news media.

The area is mainly inhabited by Shabak, a Kurdish-speaking minority group who are mostly Shiite.

The bombing came two days after a double suicide bombing killed 35 and wounded dozens in Tal Afar, a city 40 miles west of Mosul inhabited by another ethnic group, the Turkmens.

Nineveh Province, which includes Mosul and Tal Afar, remains one of Iraq’s most volatile areas. Like neighboring Kirkuk Province, it is embroiled in a bitter territorial dispute involving Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and other ethnic and sectarian groups.

Later on Saturday, a bomb exploded inside a pool hall in central Baghdad, according to an Interior Ministry official and witnesses. No one was killed. Shortly afterward, a second explosion occurred at the entrance of the pool hall, killing a police officer.

A total of 20 people were wounded in the two bomb attacks.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, an employee in the office of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was killed when a bomb placed in his car exploded, according to the same Interior Ministry official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media.

The attack happened in the neighborhood of Saidiya in southwestern Baghdad, and the victim was identified as Zaid Abdul-Karim. His wife and 11 others were wounded, the official said.

Also on Saturday, the United States military announced that it had sentenced a soldier to three years in a military prison for the accidental shooting death of another soldier in Iraq. Sgt. Miguel A. Vegaquinones pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after the Jan. 11 shooting, the military said in a statement.