2 killed, 16 injured in Iraq armed attacks

BAQUBA, Iraq - Two people were killed and 16 others injured Sunday in separate gunfire and bomb attacks in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial police source said.

Gunmen using assault rifles shot dead a civilian near his house in the town of Khalis, just north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, a young girl was killed by gunmen in front of her house in the town of Muqdadiyah, some 40 km northeast of Baquba, the source said.

In addition, a home-made bomb went off near the house of a leader of the government-backed Awakening Council group in northeastern Baquba, wounding 15 people, the source added.

Some of the 15 wounded were inside their houses as the powerful blast damaged six surrounding buildings, he said, adding that the group leader himself survived the attack unharmed.

The Awakening Council group, also known as Sons of Iraq Movement or Sahwa, consists of mostly anti-US Sunni insurgent militant groups, who turned their rifles to fight al-Qaida network after Sahwa's leaders became dismayed by al-Qaida's brutality and religious zealotry in the country.

Also in Diyala, an unidentified gunman threw a hand grenade on a police patrol in al-Tahrir area just south of Baquba, injuring one policeman, he added.

Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border east of the country, has long been a stronghold for al-Qaida militants and other insurgent groups since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.