Two Russians and several Iraqis were killed in Baqouba and Baghdad

Two Russian technicians working in Iraq were killed and other five wounded in an armed attack against a bus carrying them yesterday morning. The spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry said that two Iraqis were killed in the attack which targeted a car for "Inter Energo Service" company which works in the field of energy.

In Baghdad, news reports quoted the Iraqi police as saying that two Iraqis were killed and other 6 injured including two policemen in a bomb explosion yesterday morning in Qaser al-Nada in al-Baya area to the south of Baghdad.

The occupation forces cordoned the region and investigated reasons behind the incident. Iraqi police sources said the explosion targeted a police inspection point installed in the area.

One booby trapped car went off near Baqouba to the north east of Baghdad. News reports in the city said that three Iraqis were killed and other 18 injured including a police colonel in the explosion which took place in Balad Rose.

The news reports explained that a joint patrol composed of the American occupation forces and the Iraqi police was in the area when the explosion took place. It gravely damaged several cars in the city.

Meantime, Iraqi medical sources in Najaf said that at least nine Iraqis were killed and other 33 injured in the clashes which took place between al-Mahdi army fighters of the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sader and the occupation forces in Wadi al-Salam cemetery in the city yesterday at dawn.