Ongoing violence in and around Baghdad claimed at least 47 more Iraqi lives on Sunday despite beefed-up security and police raids, according to Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. In Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a car bomb killed eight Iraqis and wounded 15 others in a district dominated by Shiites and Kurds. The bomb was detonated in a busy car market. Adel Abdel-Mohsen, adviser to the Minister of Industry, was shot down by armed militants in Yarmouk district, western Baghdad. His two daughters and three others were also killed. Earlier, in the same area, an adviser for the Agriculture Ministry was also killed, reported the Al-Iraqia state channel. The official was accompanying four other Iraqis in a vehicle when they were shot at by armed militants. The official - whose name has not been disclosed - and his escorts died instantly. Another Iraqi was killed, and seven more wounded, when an explosive device blew up inside a mini-bus in the east of the capital. Near the al-Nedaa Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, one person was killed and nine others were wounded when an explosive-laden car, parked on the roadside, blew up. The street was busy with labourers looking for day jobs. Separately, eyewitnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that mortar shells had fallen on a school in western Baghdad killing five female students and wounding 20 others. In Shiite-dominated Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, a vehicle exploded, killing at least four people and wounding 32 others. Meanwhile, armed clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and "terrorist" group Najaf, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad. Najaf and neighbouring city Karbala, where more than 25,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed last Tuesday, are currently swarming with Muslim pilgrims who are celebrating the Shiite Ashura festival. In the Zarka area of Kufa, near Najaf, militants belonging to Jund Allah (Soldiers of God) and Iraqi policemen clashed. US military helicopters reportedly provided aid during the raid. Najaf governor Assad Abu-Kalal told the press that at least 14 militants were killed so far and five Afghani militants were detained during the ongoing clashes. The governor confirmed that US military helicopters provided cover for the security forces. However, he did not confirm reports of a US helicopter accident, saying only that "a foreign object" had crashed into a nearby river. The governor refused any further comments.
