More Bloodshed Ahead Of Iraq U.N. Talks

Five Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were injured in bomb blast in Baquba,2 British civilians were killed and 3 U.S. soldiers wounded in separate drive-by shootings in Mosul, 3 Iraqi civilians were injured in a bomb blast in Kirkuk and a3 -year-old Iraqi boy was killed and 7 people were injured, including four women and two girls, when U.S. troops opened fire on civilian cars in Tikrit.

Baquba

Five Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were injured in bomb blasts Sunday, March 28 , in continued bloodletting ahead of talks between U.N. experts and Iraqi officials on the upcoming transfer of power in Iraq.

A roadside bomb exploded near a school outside the flashpoint town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, wounding five Iraqi civilians, including two children – aged 10 and 8 – according to a police officer told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In Baghdad, one U.S. soldier was slightly wounded in a bomb blast against a convoy in west Baghdad, the military said.

Mosul

Two British described by a local official as British guards at a power station were killed in a drive-by shooting in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul Sunday, police said.

"Two British nationals were killed by armed, masked men who opened fire from an Opel car before fleeing the scene," Captain Jalal Mohammad Mahmud told AFP.

He said the attack occurred 150 meters (yards) from the power station serving the east of Mosul where the men worked.

The victims were in a two-car convoy heading to the power station at the time of the attack.

Three British engineers in the first car managed to drive into the compound as the shooting began and escaped unhurt but the second car got caught up in the automatic weapons fire, the officer said.

Mahmud said British engineers frequently came to the power station to check on reconstruction work there, although they did not visit according to any specific schedule.

Also in Mosul, three U.S. soldiers were seriously wounded in a drive-by shooting Sunday, the U.S. occupation military said.

Gunmen opened fire from a car on a "U.S. patrol, seriously injuring three American soldiers and setting their Humvee vehicle on fire", a U.S. soldier at the scene told AFP.

The incident occurred around12 : 15pm ( 0915GMT) in Mosul’s industrial zone, he said.

Kirkuk
Moving to Kirkuk, three Iraqi civilians were injured Sunday when a bomb concealed in a police sentry box exploded in the center of this northern Iraqi city during morning rush hour, a police officer said.

"The bomb was planted in a sentry box. It exploded at8 : 25am ( 0525GMT) as motorists were stopped at a red traffic light. Three civilians in a car were injured and taken to Kirkuk General Hospital," said Captain Dashdi Taleb.

Their condition was not immediately known.

On Saturday, an Iraqi police colonel was shot dead as he was stepping out of his house in kirkuk.

Also in Tikrit, a three-year-old Iraqi boy was killed and seven people were injured, including four women and two girls, when U.S. troops opened fire on civilian cars, police said Saturday.

Major Mohammad Khalaf told AFP that the incident took place late Friday, March26 , outside the local council building in central Tikrit, where U.S. troops are stationed.

"At 8 : 00pm ( 1700GMT) a red car carrying civilians drove past the local council and came under fire from U.S. troops who were inside the building," the officer said.

Three-year-old Abdel Samad Tikriti was critically injured in the incident and died on arrival at Tikrit Hospital, while six female members of his family, including two girls, and one male relative were injured.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. military could not confirm the report but said "three Iraqi civilians were wounded when a1 st Infantry Division patrol engaged a vehicle that refused to stop at a traffic control point in Tikrit" at7 : 00pm ( 1600GMT) Friday night.

Doctor Qussay Rashid of Tikrit Hospital told AFP that one man and one woman were in "critical condition".

Meanwhile another motorist, Mustafa Barazan Abdel Rashid, who had arrived on the scene minutes after the shooting, said he saw the red car riddled with bullets and police evacuating the casualties.

Abdel Rashid — whose cousin was married to Qussay Saddam Hussein, one of the former dictator’s two sons who were killed by US troops in July — said US troops stopped him and searched him before letting him go free.

"They did not find any weapons on me so they let me go. I was bleeding profusely from an injury to the hand and the Iraqi police took me to hospital," he said.

Abdel Rashid is also the nephew of Maher Abdel Rashid, a general who served under Saddam and the father of Qussay’s wife.