Girl, six, killed in Iraq bombings

A bomb site in Iraq. - File Photo.

BAQUBA: A six-year-old girl was killed and eight other people wounded in a series of bomb attacks Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Baquba, security and hospital officials said.
Five bombs exploded at short intervals in different parts of the city, starting from 6:45 am (0345 GMT), said an official at the operations command centre in Baquba, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
One of them, which targeted the house of a local leader, killed a six-year-old girl, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Eight other people, including three police officers and five civilians, were wounded, he added.
The first blast struck a car in the city centre, with the others targeting the house of a police officer, another local leader’s residence, the house of an anti-Qaeda militiamen from the Sahwa group, and a checkpoint.
Doctor Firas al-Dulaimi, at Baquba’s general hospital, confirmed the toll from the bombings.
Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 187 people died in violence in November, according to official figures.
A British NGO said on Monday that around 162,000 people, almost 80 per cent of them civilians, were killed in Iraq from the start of the 2003 US-led invasion up to last month’s withdrawal of American forces.