Six children were among eight people killed at a Baghdad school in what the Iraqi security forces said was an ammunition blast Monday, among a total of 16 people killed in and around the capital. Just north of Baghdad, six anti-Qaeda militiamen were gunned down in broad daylight and the wife of a militia commander was killed when their home was bombed. Two hospitals in the Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City said eight people were killed in the school blast, including six pupils from the Abaa Dhar primary school for boys. Twenty-five pupils and three teachers were among 41 people wounded. A police officer confirmed the casualty toll. An Iraqi security forces spokesman said the cause of the blast was not a bomb but the accidental detonation of a cache of explosives stored within school grounds. “The explosion happened inside the school while the school principal was burning garbage,” said Baghdad operations command spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta. “Underneath the garbage was a cache of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) hidden underground by special groups.” Special groups is the term given by US commanders to Shiite militias they say are armed and trained by Iran. The explosion, which left a crater around four meters (13 feet) in diameter, struck just outside the main entrance of the school and severely damaged three nearby houses. North of the capital, in Nadeem village just inside Baghdad province, six members of the Sahwa (Awakening) anti-Qaeda militia were shot dead at a checkpoint in a 9 A.M. (0600 GMT) ambush by gunmen using silencers. “Five gunmen walked towards the checkpoint and opened fire, killing six Sahwa members,” said police Maj. Thamer Hussein. In another attack in the nearby town of Tarmiyah, bombers blew up the home of Sahwa commander Abu Mustafa, killing his wife and wounding his son and daughter, both in their teens. “Abu Mustafa was not in the house when the explosion took place,” said police Lieutenant Wisam Badr. A police officer said the bombers had probably planted the explosives during the night and then detonated them during the day. The US military began recruiting the Sahwa militias among Sunni Arab tribesmen and former insurgents in 2006, turning the tide in the war against Al-Qaeda in Iraq and leading to a dramatic fall in levels of violence. Iraq may go to polls on Feb. 27 Iraq is likely to select Feb. 27 as the date for next year's general election after lawmakers overcame fierce disagreements over the distribution of seats, officials in the presidency council said Monday. A late February election, although after the constitutional deadline for the ballot to be held, should not interfere with the U.S. military's plans to wrap up combat operations in Iraq next August ahead of a full withdrawal by 2012. Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi, whose veto of a law needed for the election to take place had thrown vote preparations into disarray, indicated to his colleagues on the three-person council that the Feb. 27 date suited him, a spokesman said.
