Baghdad - At least seven people were killed and 30 wounded in a car bomb in central Baghdad, while three family members were killed in another blast in Baquba city, sources said Tuesday. The Baghdad attack near a gas station in the city centre reportedly targeted a police patrol, a police source said.
Women, children and policemen were among the casualties, according to sources. Security forces sealed off the scene as US military helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said.
A father and his two sons were killed Tuesday when their car was hit by a roadside bomb that went off in the Sadda neighbourhood, an Iraqi police source said.
Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, is 57 kilometres north- east of Baghdad.
Also in Baquba, a police patrol discovered the dead body of a policeman and an unidentified civilian.
In other news, Iraqi military forces arrested Ghazawan al-Suri, the leader of al-Qaeda in the north-eastern city of Mosul. Two of his assistants were also arrested in the raid, senior army officer Habib al-Khazraji said Tuesday.
Al-Suri is suspected of involvement in several attacks and terrorist operations targeting security forces.
Separately, another operation in Mosul resulted in the arrest of two gunmen in Rashidiya district. The gunmen had allegedly killed a policemen in Mosul earlier Tuesday, al-Khazraji said.
Also Tuesday, an Iraqi military commander announced that his forces had killed three militants in al-Islah al-Ziraie district in west Mosul late Monday.
The US military in Iraq, meanwhile, reported that US-led coalition forces captured four wanted individuals and detained six suspected terrorists Tuesday during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda in central Iraq.
