One student killed, 80 injured in Iraq blasts

BAGHDAD - Two consecutive bomb attacks Sunday targeting buses carrying students to Iraq’s Mosul University left one Christian student dead and 80 injured, a local police source said.

The buses were carrying students from the Christian-dominated town of al-Hamdaniya, in the northern city of Mosul, the source told DPA.

Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, and its environs are among the most ethnically diverse and dangerous regions of Iraq. Insurgents continue to mount near-daily attacks in the area, despite successive security sweeps that police say have netted hundreds of detainees.

Friday, four civilians were killed and 8 injured in separate attacks in Mosul.

Saturday, a high-ranking officer survived an assassination bid by gunmen in Kirkuk city, some 250 km north of Baghdad.

Police forces also seized an arms cache belonging to Al Qaeda in Iraq, in Baaquba city which lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad. The cache contains 64 mortars, seven Katyusha rockets, six roadside bombs, and 40 mines.