Violence sweeps Iraq, killing 2

Two Iraqi women were killed and three men including a security guard were wounded in new violence in Iraq. “The director of the Women’s Prison in Baghdad Sajda Saleh Hassan Al-Dalimi was killed, while one of her bodyguards was wounded in an armed attack on her convoy early on Tuesday by unknown gunmen,” a source in the Iraqi Justice Ministry said. “The gunmen opened fire with machineguns on Al-Dalimi’s procession while on the highway to southwest Baghdad,” he added, stating that security forces cordoned off the area and began investigations. The body was transferred to the forensic medicine department and the wounded bodyguard was taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, an armed attack on the home of a lieutenant-colonel in the Iraqi army, in northwest Abu Gharib, West Baghdad, resulted in the murder of his wife and the injury of his son. A police source said that Lt. Col. Saadi Ibrahim Saloum Al-Hamdani’s wife was killed while one of his sons was injured during the machinegun attack. He added that security forces rushed to the scene after it was reported, and the wounded child was moved to the hospital, whereas the wife’s body was taken to forensics. As violence spreads across the Iraqi capital, Badr Siwan Al-Waeli, the mayor of Kut province, survived an assassination attempt on Tuesday. “An explosive device detonated below Al-Waeli’s car late on Monday, as it parked near his house (North Kut), resulting in damage of the car without causing any casualties,” said a security source in the province. Meanwhile, an Iraqi civilian was wounded in a blast in Al-Rashid, south Baghdad. In addition, a store selling alcoholic beverages was destroyed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq on Monday evening.