10 killed in Iraq attacks

Ten people, including four children were killed, and 13 injured in separate attacks across Iraq Saturday, police said.

An army brigade commander and his two bodyguards were killed and six others injured when two roadside bombs struck their convoy while they were conducting an operation against Al Qaeda militants in the Wadi Argoub area, 35 km north of Diyala's provincial capital Baquba, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

In Salahudin province, a policeman was killed and three others wounded when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in the city of Samarra, 120 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.

The source added the attack sparked off a fierce clash between the police and the attackers at the checkpoint, which resulted in the deaths of two gunmen and two children.

Elsewhere, two more children were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near a car of a member of the government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group in the city of Shirqat, 280 km north of Baghdad.

The blast also wounded the Sahwa member and badly damaged his car.

Also in the province, gunmen exploded bombs in 14 houses belonging to policemen in different parts of Salahudin's provincial capital Tikrit, 170 km north of Baghdad, damaging the houses and injuring three people.