Suicide bomber kills 3 in Baghdad

A suicide bomber set off a blast among members of a police intelligence unit Wednesday, killing three people and wounding a number of others, officials said.

The attack in central Baghdad followed a series of roadside bombings targeting Iraqi and U.S. patrols in recent weeks in the capital, although overall violence around the country is down sharply.

The suicide blast struck night-shift employees shortly after they left work. They were standing near a restaurant in the Karada neighborhood, said an aide to Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta Moussawi, the Iraqi military spokesman. The aide said three people were killed and four were wounded.

Police and hospital officials confirmed the death count but said 11 people were wounded, including three civilians. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

Witnesses told police the bomber was walking among the employees when he triggered an explosives belt.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomb exploded at a crowded police checkpoint, killing at least two policemen and wounding 15 other people, including eight policemen, according to a police official.

The official said the bomber tried to reach the checkpoint by driving around a line of cars waiting to be searched. When policemen started to approach his vehicle, he detonated his explosives, the official said.

Hours later, gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier as he stood guard at a checkpoint in Mosul, a police official said.

In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, gunmen killed a Sunni Muslim sheik, his wife and two sons.