Wolf kills Iraqi boy in palm grove

A five-year-old Iraqi boy was pounced upon and killed by a wolf as he picked dates in a palm grove near the town of Hilla in central Iraq, a witness and a doctor said on Monday. Abbas Mohammed busy picking dates on Sunday with five older boys in the village of Al-Ahamer when the animal attacked them. All except Mohammed managed to flee. "The wolf attacked the boy, lunging at his neck," witness Kadum Mohammed, 20, told AFP, adding that it was the first time such an attack had occurred in the area. Dr Mohammed Jassem, from the hospital in Hilla 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad, confirmed receiving the boy's body. Jassem said the child's abdomen had been completely torn open by the wild animal.