Roadside bomb kills three Iraqi soldiers
A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in north-east Iraq today, and six people were wounded in attacks by insurgents on four of Baghdad’s 1,200polling stations during the country’s constitutional referendum, police said.
The bomb exploded early today near an Iraqi army and police convoy in an area about 80 miles north-east of Baghdad, killing three policemen and wounding three. The convoy was on a patrol unrelated to the referendum.
The attacks in Baghdad occurred near four different polling stations.
As voting began nationwide at 7am, a roadside bomb exploded in the western area of Amiriyah near a school that had just opened its doors, wounding two policemen, said police Lt. Mohammed Kheyon. No voters had shown up yet, he said.
At 8:30am, a small rocket exploded near a voting centre in Azamiyah, northern Baghdad, slightly wounding one civilian, said police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud.
In the nearby area of Kazemiyah, a mortar round fell near a polling station at 9am, but it did not explode, said police Maj. Falah al-Mhamadawi.
Later, insurgents opened fire on a polling centre in the Amil district in western Baghdad, and police fired back at random, accidentally wounding three civilians who were walking toward the school, said police Capt. Talib Thamir. He said the shooting was being investigated.
Violence also occurred in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad, and near the southern city of Basra, but no injuries were reported.
In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, fighting erupted at about 7am between a small group of insurgents and US troops patrolling the mostly empty streets of the city, said police 1st. Lt. Mohammed Al-Obaidi.
South of Basra, three armed men attacked an empty polling station at 3am and were caught and arrested, said police Capt. Mushtaq Kadim.
Sunni-led insurgents had vowed to wreck today’s referendum at about 6,000 polling stations across Iraq.
In the 19 days before the voting, nearly 450 people were killed by insurgents using suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and drive-by shootings.
