Baghdad: At least seven killed in Interior Ministry attacks

Two attacks on Iraq’s Interior Ministry in Baghdad today killed at least seven people and injured 26.

A suicide car bomb exploded near a rear gate, and less than an hour later two mortar shells landed near the ministry, police said.

In other violence today, gunmen assassinated an investigative judge in Kirkuk, police Capt Farhad Talabani said.

In Baghdad, gunmen fired on three people working on Iraq’s de-Baathification commission, killing one, police Capt Qassim Hussein said.

Gunmen also killed an Iraqi intelligence officer in western Baghdad, Hussein said.

Five bodies, bound and blindfolded, were found shot in Baghdad last night, police said.

Elections officials today cancelled a news conference where they had hoped to announce more preliminary results, saying officials were still auditing the results from about 50 ballot boxes and wanted to announce all results at the same time.

The death toll in the attack on the Interior Ministry has risen to 21, according to police.