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Iraqi forces battle Shia militia

BAGHDAD: Iraqi police and soldiers fought Shia militiamen who assaulted the police headquarters and provincial buildings with rocket-propelled grenades in the southern city of Samawah on Sunday, authorities said. At least five police have been killed since the fighting began on Friday.

Northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed at least seven policemen and wounded 30 others at a police station in Muqdadiyah, 90 km northeast of the Iraqi capital, police said. Insurgents then launched six mortar rounds at the station.

Half an hour after the suicide attack on Sunday, two roadside bombs exploded next to one another in Khanaqin, about 140 km northeast of Baghdad, close to the Iranian border, police said. The coordinated attacks wounded 18 civilians, some seriously.

Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said five policemen have been killed in Samawah, and that a curfew was in place and reinforcements were on the way. — AP

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