Roadside bomb in northern Iraqi Shiite town kills police chief, 4 others

Bomb in northern Iraqi Shiite town kills 5

BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb killed the head of an anti-terrorism police unit and four of his bodyguards Tuesday in a northern Iraqi town that is home to a large Shiite population, a police official said.

The attack in the town of Armili targeted a convoy carrying Lt. Col. Zaid Hussein Khalaf, who leads the local police force’s anti-terrorism section, said Brig. Sarhat Qader of the police in Kirkuk, a city farther north.

Armili is a town of about 26,000 people — most of them Shiites from Iraq’s Turkomen ethnic minority. More than 100 people were killed in 2007 when a suicide truck bomber targeted a market in the town, which is about 100 miles, or 165 kilometers, north of Baghdad.

Insurgents in northern Iraq, who have maintained a stronghold in the city of Mosul, have frequently targeted ethnic minorities in recent weeks. Many of the attacks have hit remote villages and towns like Armili that often depend on a small security force for protection.

Police were also targeted north of Armili on Tuesday. A roadside bomb struck a patrol near the town of Daqouq, killing two policemen and wounding three others, Kirkuk police said.

The violence that continues to plague Iraq’s north and the capital has forced the government to acknowledge gaps in security. In particular, the government has been criticized for lapses that allowed a devastating attack last month on the foreign and finance ministries.

On Tuesday, the spokesman for Baghdad’s security command center told a news conference that 29 police and army officers arrested after the August attack were charged with negligence. All were responsible for security in the areas of the two ministry buildings, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Mousawi.

He also put the official death toll in the Aug. 19 bombings at 92, lower than an initial figure of about 100.

One of those suspected of direct involvement in the attack said in a televised confession shortly after his arrest that the bombers were able to pass checkpoints with the payment of bribes.

“There was clear negligence from the security forces,” al-Mousawi said.

He also acknowledged more broadly the need to improve the country’s U.S.-trained security forces.

“Absolutely, what has been achieved so far in the intelligence and security efforts is below expectations. There is a review to all security plans with the supervision of the prime minister,” he said.

The Interior Ministry is continuing a criminal investigation into the ministry attacks.

In Baghdad on Tuesday, a Health Ministry official escaped an assassination attempt when a roadside bomb hit his convoy in the eastern part of the capital, but one ministry employee died in the blast, Iraqi police and health officials said.

Eight bystanders and four people in the convoy were also wounded in the attack, which appeared directed at Dr. Ali Bustan al-Fartosi, who is in charge of eastern Baghdad’s medical facilities. The doctor escaped unharmed, the officials said.

The police official said it was not known why the doctor was targeted.

North of the capital, in the city of Tikrit, a roadside bomb targeting the convoy of the deputy provincial governor injured one of his bodyguards. The deputy governor was unharmed, police said.

All the police and health officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Associated Press Writer Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah contributed to this report.