Baghdad roadside bomb leaves brothers dead
Two brothers serving in Iraq’s police forces were killed today when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle as they returned home in southeastern Baghdad, police said.
The attack occurred as the two returned to the Baghdad suburb of Nahrawan, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, gunmen abducted the Interior Ministry’s residence director as he travelled in an unmarked car. It was not clear who seized Brigadier Abdullah Humoud, police said.
US and Iraqi forces are attempting to quell rising sectarian tensions that have led to the deaths of hundreds in recent weeks.
Seeking to escape that violence, about 2,480 families – or 14,900 people - have fled Baghdad’s Dora, Jihad and Abu Ghraib neighbourhoods for Wasit province, according to immigration and displacement officials in Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Police also reported several bombings around Iraq that injured a handful of people.
The violence comes as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki prepares to address the US Congress in Washington, D.C., where he has gone to shore up the US military commitment in Iraq.
Amid escalating violence, Iraq’s parliament also voted to extend a nationwide state of emergency that has been renewed every month since 2004.
