12 killed in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD - At least 12 people were killed and 23 injured Friday in separate attacks across Iraq that mainly targeted security forces, police said.

In the northern city of Mosul, six soldiers and one policeman were killed in a series of attacks that also left seven people injured.

One child was killed and three civilians injured when gunmen attacked a residential neighbourhood in Kirkuk, which lies 250 km north of Baghdad.

Also, three members of Sahwa, or Awakening Councils, were killed and three injured when gunmen attacked a Sahwa checkpoint in the centre of the mainly Sunni Arab town of Al-Sharqat, 280 km north of Baghdad.

The Sahwa, made up of former Sunni insurgents, have been facing regular attacks for their role in supporting the government in its fight against Al Qaeda.

Meanwhile, one policeman was killed and 10 people, including three policemen, were injured in two consecutive blasts in Falluja city, some 60 km west of Baghdad.

Security forces have increasingly been coming under attack from insurgents in recent months. The US military has now reduced its presence in Iraq to under 50,000 soldiers and all soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile, five suspected senior members of Al Qaeda were arrested in two operations, police said Friday.

Two suspects were arrested in a desert area between Falluja and Saqalawiya cities, where police said they had seized equipment for making car bombs and documents revealing their links with other cells responsible for attacks in the nearby cities.

Aziz al-Amra, head of the Rapid Response Forces in Wasit, told DPA that three other suspects arrested late Thursday had confessed to belonging to Al Qaeda and of being involved in a car bombing that targeted a police station in the city of Kut.