Iraq: Violence death toll rises to nine

Unidentified assailants shot a senior intelligence official dead in his car today and police discovered the bullet riddled bodies of three men, a day after gunmen beheaded five people.

The dispersed violence since yesterday, which included roadside bombs and car bombs, came amid calls to replace the interior minister because of worsening security in Baghdad and surrounding towns, mostly blamed on sectarian conflict between the country’s Shiite and Sunni communities.

Brigadier Fakhri Jamil, an intelligence officer, was killed in a drive-by shooting today while in his car in Baghdad, police 1st. Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.

Earlier, police discovered the bodies of two unidentified men, who had been shot in the head the chest, in northeastern Baghdad, said police Major Mahir Hamad Mussa.

He said the men, who appeared to be aged between 30 and 35, were dressed in civilian clothes and had their hands and legs tied. A third, bullet-riddled body of a man showing signs of torture, was recovered from the Tigris river south of Baghdad today, said hospital official, Maamoun al-Rubaie.

The circumstances leading to their deaths were not known.

Meanwhile, funerals were performed today for five people who were beheaded by unidentified gunmen yesterday near the northern town of Hawija, said police Colonel Burhan Tayeb.

He said the four policemen and a lawyer were travelling in a car from Tikrit to Kirkuk when they were stopped by then gunmen. All five were ordered out of the vehicle and beheaded, said Tayeb. Hawija is 150 miles north of Baghdad.

Also today, at least four roadside bombs and one car bomb exploded in various places, injuring seven people. A roadside bomb yesterday seriously wounded two policemen in the central city of Samarra.