Iraq gun and bomb attacks kill two, wound 15

2 January 2011 - 12H25

An Iraqi police commando mans a checkpoint in Baghdad. Gun and bomb attacks across Iraq have claimed the lives of a policeman and a woman and wounded 15 other people, security and medical officials said.

AFP - Gun and bomb attacks across Iraq claimed the lives of a policeman and a woman and wounded 15 other people on Sunday, security and medical officials said.

One policeman was killed and four others were wounded when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Al-Filahat area, 10 kilometres (six miles) west of Fallujah, which is itself west of Baghdad, police Captain Omar al-Filahi said.

In Balad, 70 kilometres north of Baghdad, unknown assailants blew up the home of local prosecutor Hardan Khalifa, killing one woman and wounding eight other people including three women and a child, a hospital official said.

And in Baquba, 60 kilometres northeast of the capital, two improvised explosive devices wounded three people including Mal Allah Abbas Ahmed, who heads the Sunni religious endowment for Diyala province, police and medical officials said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was approved by parliament for a second term along with a national unity cabinet on December 21 after more than nine months of political deadlock, has cited security as one of his priorities.