Militants gun down police chief as up to eight killed in attacks

INSURGENTS gunned down a neighborhood police chief and set off a suicide bomb near a patrol guarding a holy shrine, part of a series of attacks yesterday targeting Iraqi security forces that left at least eight people dead, including four police officers.

Gunmen opened fire on a car carrying police colonel Abdul Karim Fahad Abbass as he headed to work in the sprawling southeastern Doura quarter, killing the neighbourhood station chief and his driver, Capt Falah al-Muhimadawi said.

Across the Tigris River that bisects Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the Hay Al-Amil area, killing one policeman and wounding five others, Capt Thalib Thamir said.

In Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up, targeting a police patrol protecting a holy shrine. Two policemen and three civilians were killed, police and hospital officials said. At least five others were injured.

Insurgents appear to be focusing attacks on Iraqi security forces, who are slowly taking over the fight against insurgents in what US officials hope will pave the way for an eventual withdrawal of US troops.

In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 150 special forces and 50 border guards graduated yesterday, the latest additions to Iraq's security forces.

Also yesterday, Al-Arabiya correspondent Jawad Kadhim reported on the Arab TV station that Iraqi police arrested correspondent Wael Essam. Kadhim said Essam arrived in Iraq four days ago on assignment and was stopped by a police checkpoint on the road to the airport.

Kadhim said he spoke with Essam after his arrest, and he called on Iraq's Interior Ministry to intervene.

Iraq was also working to build a new government, with the National Assembly preparing to hold its second session yesterday to choose a parliament speaker and two deputies.

It was unclear if lawmakers would name the country's new president, expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani. The president will be responsible for nominating a prime minister, likely Ibrahim al-Jaafari from the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance.