Iraqi judge among 7 killed in attacks

Shootings and bombings in central and north Iraq on Tuesday left seven people dead, including a judge and the bodyguard of an MP, security and medical officials said. In the main northern city of Mosul, Judge Abbas al-Abadi was gunned down as he was leaving his home, police First Lieutenant Mohammed al-Juburi and Doctor Tareq al-Naimi at Mosul hospital said. Near Mosul, 350 kilometres (220 miles) north of Baghdad, in Tal Afar, two members of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party were killed when a roadside bomb struck their car, according to police First Lieutenant Abid Ghiyab and Ahmed Abdulghaffur, a doctor at the town hospital. Also north of the capital in the disputed city of Kirkuk, a car bomb at around 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) near a police vehicle killed two policemen and wounded four others, a security official said. Doctor Othman Ahmed at the city's main hospital confirmed the toll. Just south of Baghdad near the town of Mussayeb a bodyguard of lawmaker Ali Alaq was ambushed by gunmen who killed him before fleeing the scene, local police and medics said. Dhia Konein had been driving his personal car when he was shot dead. In the capital itself, gunmen opened fire on the car of police Brigadier General Shaaker Mahmud in east Baghdad. A security official said the vehicle's driver was killed, while a medic said one person was killed and another wounded, but did not give details. Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but deadly attacks remain common.