Four women cleaners among nine killed in Iraq violence

NINE people were killed in an outburst of violence in Iraq, including four Iraqi women driving to jobs at a US military base and two US soldiers.

South of Baghdad, the security chief of Spanish troops in Iraq was shot in the head during a raid. Two Iraqi policemen were also killed and three others wounded when gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint between Fallujah and Ramadi, two insurgency hotspots west of Baghdad. The attack occurred along the same road where the day before, assailants firing from a speeding car killed four women cleaners and wounded six other people in a convoy headed for the US military base at Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of the capital.

It appeared the women were targeted as part of an insurgent campaign to discourage Iraqis from co-operating with the occupation forces.