BAGHDAD — A spate of bomb attacks and shootings in Iraq yesterday killed five people, including a television presenter, as Baghdad imposed a ban on motorcycles ahead of Eid al Fitr.
The violence, which left dozens wounded, came three days after a co-ordinated suicide attack on an Iraqi military complex in Baghdad killed 12 people and injured 36.
In the main northern city of Mosul, Sabah al Khayat was shot dead in front of his house while departing for work at the Al Mosuliyah satellite television station, where he presented a programme on mosques and shrines in the city.
“Armed men shot the journalist Sabah al Khayat in front of his house in central Mosul while he was leaving for work,” a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In another deadliest attack, a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated and quickly followed by a roadside bomb near a bus terminal in the south Baghdad neighbourhood of Bayaa, killing two people.
Officials from the ministries of defence and interior, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than 20 others were wounded, including 10 members of the Iraqi security forces.
And on Al Shaikh Omar street in the centre of the capital, two near-simultaneous roadside bombs killed one person and wounded a dozen others, the interior ministry official and a doctor said.
Baghdad Operations Command also said that it was enforcing a ban on motorcycles in the city until further notice, ahead of the three-day Eid al Fitr festivities.
Bans on motorcycles — which have been used in deadly attacks in Iraq — are often implemented around major holidays in the country.
Also yesterday, a farmer was killed in the central Iraqi town of Mayndili when his truck was struck by a roadside bomb inside his farm, said Major Mohammed al Karkhi, spokesman for police in Diyala province north of Baghdad.
The motives for the attack, which also left his son wounded, was unclear.
Meanwhile, police yesterday detained the brother of an Iraqi soldier killed after gunning down two American troops and wounding nine others, the first US deaths since combat operations were declared over.
The gunman, enlisted man Soran Rahman Saleh Wali, opened fire on his US comrades who were visiting the Al Saadiq Air Base near the town of Tuz Khurmatu in Salaheddin province, killing the two Americans and wounding nine others.
Security officials said Wali shot them after an argument erupted, but there were no details on what sparked the row or on his motives. — AFP