Four dead in Baghdad violence

Two policemen and two civilians were killed in separate incidents today in Baghdad, police said.

A roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police convoy in eastern Baghdad, killing the two policemen and wounding five others, authorities said. Two vehicles were damaged.

Later, police said a mortar round landed near a house in central Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding another.

In Shorja market, Baghdad’s most popular central shopping district, a man threw a grenade into a group of workers, police said. One worker was killed and another was wounded. The suspect escaped through a nearby alley, they said.

The Shorja market has been bombed several times, including a large truck bomb last month. But the area was turned into a pedestrian zone after a US-Iraqi security crackdown began in Baghdad on February 14.

Also today, an abandoned hotel exploded in an industrial area of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad. Police said insurgents had planted bombs in the three-storey building and then detonated it at dawn. Half of the building was destroyed.

Iraqi troops had taken over part of the building’s roof as a base, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

In Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, fierce fighting erupted between US troops and elements of the Shiite Mahdi Army, police said. There were no reports of casualties, and the US military had no immediate comment.

Police also found an unidentified man’s body with signs of torture, dumped in central Diwaniyah.