Six killed in latest Iraqi violence

At least six people have been killed and several others wounded in separate bombing incidents and sporadic gun battles across Iraq. Iraqi police officials said on Wednesday that a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed one soldier in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of the capital Baghdad. Clashes between Iraqi security forces and armed men in western Mosul also left four gunmen killed and two others wounded. In a separate incident on Wednesday, Iraq's interior ministry sources said a sticky bomb attached to a car killed the driver in the Bayaa district of southwestern Baghdad, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, five passengers were injured after a roadside bomb went off near a small bus on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. Bombings and other forms of violence have become a near daily occurrence in Iraq in recent months as the US government has made no secret of its strong desire to extend its military presence in the war-torn country past the December 2011 withdrawal date. The US-led military invasion of Iraq began in 2003 under the false pretext of locating and destroying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) presumably held by the repressive regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. However, no WMDs were ever found in Iraq following the American occupation of the country. The military invasion, meanwhile, led to over a million 'violent deaths' among Iraqi citizens, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB).