BAGHDAD: Violence in Iraq killed 27 people yesterday as the United Nations warned that an upsurge in sectarian attacks threatens to displace more civilians from their homes.
Insurgents battled police and troops west and north of Baghdad.
In Anbar province west of the capital, militants attacked two police stations and a local official’s house in the towns of Rawa and Aana near the main highway from Baghdad to the Syrian border, killing seven police and the official’s brother, medical and security sources said.
Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al Assadi told journalists a large group of militants had attacked Aana, seeking to take control of security force positions.
Security forces killed six of the militants, Assadi said, adding that SWAT units had been deployed to the area.
North of Baghdad, two soldiers and four militants died in clashes in the Hamreen area, officers said.
A helicopter pilot was wounded by gunfire in the operation, during which two militants were arrested and weapons seized, army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Al Zaidi said.
Three people were killed in the northern province of Nineveh and two in Babil province, south of Baghdad.
In the capital, a car bomb killed at least two people and wounded seven more.
AFP
