Nine people, including five policemen, died when a bomb exploded Saturday in a restaurant frequented by Iraqi police about 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said. Twelve people were also wounded by the bomb that had been planted inside the restaurant in downtown Baquba. A senior Iraqi army officer in the northern city of Kirkuk survived an assassination bid in which one bodyguard was killed and another seriously injured, said a senior Kirkuk police officer. Brigadier Torhan Yousif also said gunmen shot a police officer dead in front of his house. A U.S. soldier died of injuries received when the military vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a roadside bomb in northern Baghdad, the U.S. military reported. Some 55 kilometres west of the city in Hawija, a U.S. military Humvee vehicle was destroyed in a roadside bomb blast aimed at a passing convoy, the U.S. military said. No casualties were reported. One U.S. soldier was however killed in Tikrit late Friday by "indirect fire" on a coalition military base, the military said. In Baghdad, two Filipino nationals were injured when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle as it was travelling to the city's airport, al- Iraqiya television reported. -- SPA 2308 Local Time 2008 GMT
