Iraq violence claims 19 lives

Suspected insurgents killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in west Baghdad this morning.

North of the capital, more drive-by shooters gunned down three power station employees on their way to work in Taji, police said.

A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in south Baghdad’s Saydiyah neighbourhood killed another policeman, said police 1st Lt. Akeel Fadhil. Nearby, gunmen broke into a bakery and killed four employees.

Retaliatory killings between Shiite and Sunni Muslims have become common in the capital ever since the February 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad triggered a wave of sectarian violence.

Baghdad police said they discovered eight bodies, blindfolded and shot, in the Binok and Kazimiyah neighbourhoods today.