Baghdad, Oct 3 (IANS/EFE) At least 16 people were killed Wednesday in a string of violent incidents in Iraq, including the shoot-down of a military helicopter, authorities said.
Seven of the deaths took place in Al Sukariat, a village in the northern province of Salahuddin, a source in the interior ministry said.
Three of the dead were gunmen, while the other four were military personnel aboard a helicopter downed by insurgent fire, the source said.
Elsewhere in Salahuddin, a member of a pro-government Sunni militia was fatally shot at a checkpoint.
Four people died and around 30 others were injured in car-bomb attacks at three different markets in Baghdad.
The attempted assassination of a military officer left one person dead and three wounded near Samarra, 120 km north of the Iraqi capital.
In the eastern province of Diyala, Shi’ite militiamen gunned down a municipal official, while a senior police officer and his driver died in a separate incident.
Nearly 1,000 people died last month in Iraq as a result of political or sectarian violence, bringing the civilian death toll for the year so far to almost 6,000, the UN mission in Baghdad said this week.
Leaders of most of Iraq’s political parties met on Sep 20 to sign a pact of “honour and social peace” to confront a resurgence of sectarian violence.
–IANS/EFE
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