Nine soldiers killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed in a bomb explosion and gunfire attack in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh Wednesday, police said.

The attack took place outside the provincial capital Mosul, about 400 km north of Baghdad, when gunmen detonated a bomb and opened fire at three vehicles carrying soldiers, killing nine of them, Xinhua reported.

The soldiers were heading to their homes when the insurgents ambushed their vehicles, the police said.

Violence is still common in Iraqi cities as security deteriorated, causing a setback to the efforts of the Iraqi government to restore normalcy in the country about two weeks after the US military announced withdrawal of its combat troops from the war-torn country.