At least 16 Iraqi police and civilians were killed in separate unrest across Iraq on Tuesday, witnesses and officials said, with violent incidents claiming lives in Baghdad, Baquba, Basra and Mosul, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. An early morning attack saw a car bomb detonate in the volatile Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City, killing three people. Nine others were also wounded in the blast, which occurred outside a family court on the area's Palestine Street, close to the entrance of the neighbourhood. Tensions are currently high in Sadr City as a US blockade on some areas imposed following the kidnapping last week of a US soldier of Iraqi origin begins to bite. Citizens had over the weekend taken to the streets to protest the action, while the US military earlier Tuesday announced the detention of three people in connection with the abduction. The soldier was captured from a relative's house in the Karada area on October 23. Much US attention in the past days has centred on an alleged militant leader in Sadr City, according to reports. In a separate blast, one Iraqi policeman was killed and three others were wounded when an explosive device struck their patrol in eastern Baghdad's Gadeedah district. In western Baghdad, clashes were reported early Tuesday between Iraqi army and police forces and militants in the Khadraa district. Also Tuesday, five unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad bearing bullet wounds and evidence of torture, police said. In Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, nine people were killed and eight wounded in separate attacks Tuesday, said Iraqi police and witnesses. An Iraqi policeman and a young boy were killed while four policemen were wounded when militants opened fire on a police patrol in the Mafraq district in western Baquba, while another police officer was killed and two wounded when a roadside bomb targeted their patrol in the city's southern Kanaan district. Six other Iraqis were meanwhile killed by militants in other districts of Baquba. In Mosul, three Iraqis were reportedly killed Tuesday when a US patrol opened fire on their car as it approached the patrol. The incident occurred in the Mithaq district in eastern Mosul, security sources said, adding that the US soldiers suspected the occupants of the car were militants. Elsewhere more than 40 Shiites were kidnapped on a road near Tarimiya, 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, on Tuesday afternoon by militants, security sources told dpa. Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa also that militants carrying pistols stopped 14 cars and mini-buses going to Balad and Dujail and separated the Sunni from the Shiite passengers before kidnapping the Shiites. Meanwhile a US military statement released on Tuesday said three of its personnel were killed the previous day in fighting. One of the soldiers was hit by small arms fire in western Baghdad, while another died when his vehicle was struck by an explosive device in the southern part of the city. The third US soldier, a military policeman, was shot dead by a sniper. At least 104 US soldiers have died this month in violence across Iraq, the highest monthly toll of the year. In Basra, 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, one Iraqi coastguard soldier was killed on Monday while another was wounded in an exchange of fire with offshore smugglers. Security sources on Tuesday said clashes with the smugglers were ongoing since since Monday night in an area called Shalhat al-Aghwat, near the border with Iran. Ten smugglers were arrested and 100 cars and boats used to smuggle fuel and goods in and out of the country were confiscated.
