Shiite cleric killed in Iraq's bomb attacks
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A Shiite cleric and a woman were killed and nine people wounded in two bomb attacks in Baghdad and Iraq's eastern province of Diyala on Thursday, the police said.
In Baghdad, an unidentified Shiite cleric was killed when a sticky bomb attached to his car detonated in Bab al-Mu'adham area in downtown Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Two passersby were also wounded by the blast, the source said.
In Diyala province, a woman was killed and seven people were wounded when a booby-trapped car struck the convoy of a commander of a police commando unit while moving in an area located in east of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a source from Diyala's operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Lieutenant Colonel Abdul-Hameed al-Shimmary, commander of Diyala's quick reaction 3rd battalion, escaped unharmed the car bomb explosion despite damages in two of his vehicles, the source said.
The powerful blast destroyed several nearby civilian cars, the source added.
Violence in the country underscore the challenges that the Iraqi security forces are facing as they struggle to restore stability and normalcy in Iraqi cities about eight months before the departure of all U.S. forces by the end of 2011.
