Eight killed, 33 hurt in Iraq attacks (Night Lead)

BAGHDAD - Eight people were killed and 33 injured in separate attacks in Iraq Sunday, security sources and the local media said.

In Baghdad, six people were killed and 29 injured by a suicide bomb attack targeting the ministry of defence building in the Bab al-Muadham area, security sources said.

The bomber tried to drive a minibus filled with explosives past a police checkpoint outside the building. Police opened fire at the minibus, setting off the explosion.

In the neighbourhood of al-Dora, meanwhile, a man was killed by a bomb that had been planted in his car, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency reported. Two bystanders were injured in the blast.

A roadside bomb also injured two people in the eastern area of al-Kamaliya, Aswat al-Iraq said.

In the northern city of Mosul, another man was killed in a drive-by shooting in the al-Zohour neighbourhood, police said.

Iraqi security forces arrested 11 suspected militants in and around Mosul, four of which are believed to work for Al Qaeda.

The US officially ended its combat mission in Iraq last week. Its remaining 49,700 troops will only have advisory, training and counterterrorism roles until they too leave in 2011.