Deadly attacks mar Iraq’s New Year

A Christian woman, two US soldiers and an Iraqi policeman are the latest victims of gunmen across the country.

Iraqi checkpoint
undefined
At least two Christians were killed and 16 others wounded in a wave of reent bomb attacks on Christian targets [EPA]

A Christian woman has been killed in Baghdad after gunmen broke into her home, shot her and made off with a number of her possessions.

Rafah Toma, who lived alone in Al-Wahda neighbourhood, is the latest victim of a string of attacks against Christians in Iraq, an interior ministry official said on Monday.

The interior ministry official also said that a policeman was shot dead by gunmen with silenced weapons in Taifiya in northern Baghdad. He gave no further details.

On Thursday, at least two Christians were killed and 16 others wounded in a wave of bomb attacks on Christian targets in Baghdad.

The policeman’s death followed a string of similar attacks on Sunday night in which a traffic police colonel, two other police, an army captain and an engineer were gunned down in five separate attacks in Baghdad by gunmen with silenced weapons.

A similar attack left a colonel with the interior ministry severely wounded.

US soldiers killed

The US military announced that two US soldiers have been killed in the first deadly attack of the year on American forces in Iraq.

Two American soldiers were killed during operations in central Iraq, according to a US military statement on Monday.

The statement gave no further details and names of the soldiers were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Source: News Agencies