Eight killed by Baghdad suicide bomber

At least eight people were killed today by a suicide bomber targeting a gathering of Iraqi soldiers and civilians commemorating Army Day in central Baghdad.

Among the dead were four police officers, three Iraqi soldiers and one civilian. At least 12 other people were injured in the attack.

Army Day – an official holiday – this year marks the 87th anniversary of the establishment of Iraq’s army with military parades and other ceremonies.

Earlier today in Baghdad, a Shiite tribal sheikh who was part of an effort to form an armed group to combat militias in his neighbourhood was shot and killed.

Sheikh Ismaiel Abbas, 45, was outside his house in Shaab when he was shot by gunmen driving by in two cars.

Shaab is one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods in Baghdad and Shiite militias are active in the area.

Mr Abbas was in the process of helping to form an armed “backing council” to combat the growing influence of the militias.

In other parts of Iraq, so-called “awakening councils” – groups of mostly Sunni anti-al Qaida in Iraq fighters – have sprung up in the last year. The groups have been credited by American and Iraqi officials with helping to cut violence across the country by 60%.

Meanwhile, a local official at the morgue in Kut, 100 miles south east of Baghdad, said a bullet-riddled body was found in the city this morning.

The US military said in a statement today that an American soldier died after being hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq’s restive Diyala province.

The soldier died yesterday when the bomb detonated near his vehicle during an operation in the province north east of Baghdad.

The report of that death came a day after the US military said an Iraqi soldier is accused of killing two decorated American servicemen during a joint operation in northern Iraq.

An Iraqi official said the suspect may have links to militant groups.

The shooting the day after Christmas in the northern city of Mosul, which left three other US soldiers and a civilian interpreter wounded, was one of only a handful of known attacks by a member of the Iraqi military on the American troops who train and work closely with Iraqi forces.