A series of mortar barrages killed eight civilians and wounded 25 others early Saturday in central Baghdad, police said, while a strategic bridge was damaged by a bomb in northern Iraq. The mortars began slamming into the Fadhil area in Baghdad at 1:30 a.m. and continued sporadically until 7 a.m., damaging five houses, a policeman said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to deal with the media. At least one woman and one child were among the eight dead, he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
