5 killed, 20 wounded in separate attacks in Iraq

At least five people were killed and 20 others wounded on Thursday in separate violent attacks in Iraq, the police said. Two policemen were killed and 19 people, including four policemen, were injured when a suicide car bomber attacked a police patrol near a football playground in Tuz Khurmatu, some 170 km north of Baghdad Thursday evening, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Unidentified gunmen in a car opened fire on another car carrying two physicians in the New Baghdad district in southeastern Baghdad, killing one of them and wounding the other, police source said. In a separate incident, In'am Kamal, a female physician, was killed in a similar drive-by shooting by armed men using silenced weapons while driving in the Zaafaraniyah district in southern Baghdad, he said, adding that a school guard was also shot dead by gunmen in the same district. Violent attacks are still common in Iraq despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Monday a total of 761 Iraqis were killed and another 1,771 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in June.