Gunmen kill two in soccer game attack near Baghdad

BAGHDAD – Gunmen attacked a soccer game north of Baghdad yesterday, killing a policeman and a Sunni Muslim allied with the US against al Qaeda, the US military said.

The attack near Duluyiah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, also wounded three others, including a 9-year-old and a second member of the local U.S.-backed awakening council, the military said. “To fire upon a soccer game where the people of Iraq are starting to enjoy normalcy and happiness is another example of the barbaric nature of the insurgents,” Major Peggy Kageleiry, a US military spokeswoman, said in a statement.Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but frequent attacks continue throughout the country.A roadside bomb exploded near the house of a police captain 64 km west of Baghdad in Fallujah yesterday, killing four policemen and wounding eight others, police said.The wounded included four policemen and four civilians.All those caught in the blast were drawn to the location by an initial roadside bomb that exploded 10 minutes earlier, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.Also yesterday a roadside bomb struck a truck near Baqouba, 56 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.The blast injured the driver and his assistant, who later died of their wounds at a nearby hospital, said the police, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.Nampa-AP”To fire upon a soccer game where the people of Iraq are starting to enjoy normalcy and happiness is another example of the barbaric nature of the insurgents,” Major Peggy Kageleiry, a US military spokeswoman, said in a statement.Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but frequent attacks continue throughout the country.A roadside bomb exploded near the house of a police captain 64 km west of Baghdad in Fallujah yesterday, killing four policemen and wounding eight others, police said.The wounded included four policemen and four civilians.All those caught in the blast were drawn to the location by an initial roadside bomb that exploded 10 minutes earlier, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.Also yesterday a roadside bomb struck a truck near Baqouba, 56 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.The blast injured the driver and his assistant, who later died of their wounds at a nearby hospital, said the police, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.Nampa-AP