A United States diplomat was among at least five US citizens, six Iraqis and an Italian killed in an explosion Tuesday at a municipal government office in Baghdad's volatile Sadr City district, US officials said, according to dpa. Steven Farley, a State Department employee, was killed along with two US troops and two civilian employees of the US Department of Defence in a blast during a meeting of the local district council, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. The US embassy in Baghdad confirmed six Iraqis and one Italian were among the dead in the attack, which occurred as council elections were set to take place in the area. At least three members of the council and seven other Iraqis were wounded, Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a statement identified Farley and called the deaths a "terrible reminder of the dangers that our colleagues face daily in advancing our critical foreign policy goals." Another two soldiers were injured. It was not known whether Farley, who has served on a US reconstruction team in the region since April 2007, was the target of the explosion, Casey said. One suspect was caught fleeing the scene of the blast and taken into custody, the US military said. In another incident, police sources told VOI news agency that the US military killed three members of the same family, and detained another two, while attacking a house in Oraibiy district of western Mosul. The US military also said two soldiers were killed, and three others and an interpreter were wounded in an attack near Salman Pak on Monday. "The attack occurred shortly before 1 pm as the coalition forces were leaving the Salman Pak Nahia council meeting facility," according to a statement. The US forces killed the assailant, who according to unnamed Iraqi and US security sources cited by VOI was a local municipal councillor who opened fire on the US patrol. "The member of the municipal council, Ra'id Mahmud Ujayl, opened fire on the US troops. The reason is unknown. He was killed by US soldiers," an Iraqi source was quoted as saying by VOI. Salman Pak, also known as Madayn, is a village along the Tigris River, about 15 kilometres south of Baghdad. It was the scene of deadly sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite insurgents in the years after the US-led invasion in 2003. The killing of four soldiers brings the number of US troops killed in Iraq in June to 22. At least 4,106 have been killed since the 2003 invasion. Also Tuesday, US forces arrested the head of Tikrit's Press Syndicate, Hassan Magun, a member of Magun's family told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. Forces confiscated 70,000 US dollars and three kilogrammes of gold before arresting Magun and his son Abdullah, a university student. The 55-year-old Magun also owns a jewelry shop in the city. Iraqi army forces arrested nine wanted men and found a weapons cache on Tuesday in separate areas in Nineveh province, the official spokesman for the Nineveh operations command said. Meanwhile, militants kidnapped four students on their way to their final exams at Mosul's university, a security source told VOI. Gunmen riding two civilian vehicles kidnapped the four university students, who were on their way to university to sit for their final exams, VOI said. Two of the four students were released shortly after their abduction, the source added. Police are still searching for the missing students. The students come from Shefaa district in western Iraq's Anbar province. Lately, abductions targeting university students and professors have escalated. Nineveh province has witnessed a crackdown since May 10 targeting militants and members of the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
