Gunmen kill civilians in Iraq

Gunmen killed two civilians in Tikrit who were employed by US troops, while reports of sectarian attacks elsewhere in Iraq remained low, police said today.

The drive-by shooting occurred in the al-Qadissya neighbourhood of Tikrit, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

Gunmen in the nearby town of Beiji also killed a man who worked for a railway company.

Elsewhere, a bomb tore through a pipeline southwest of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The pipeline carries oil from Iraq’s largest refinery in Beiji to Baghdad’s Dora neighbourhood, police said.

A rocket also exploded in central Baghdad at midmorning, injuring three, police said.

The attack came during a four-hour driving ban police hoped would hold down violence during prayers.