Clashes in Koufa, Fallouja, assassination of one official in Karkouk

In another development. One American military spokesman said that its forces killed several Iraqi fighters in clashes that erupted in Falluja to the west of Baghdad following an attack that targeted American tanks positioned to the north east of the city.

The spokesman explained that the attackers used shelling and mortars artillery in the attack which took place on Monday late evening.

Meantime, the US army announced the killing of one of its soldiers and wounding of other two in an attack which targeted their patrol in northern Iraq. An American military statement said on Tuesday that the incident took place on Sunday when a bomb went off on one of the roads near Musil. The statement gave no other details about the attack.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen assassinated yesterday morning the director general of Karkouk education department Ibrahim Ismael. The commander of the city's police said that the attackers fired at Ibrahim's car in the main street as he was heading to the Technology Institute and this also resulted in wounding three of his guards, one of them is in a critical health condition.

Ismael is considered one of the renowned Turkman's figures. He is a member in the Turkman's front, the party which organized recently movements of protest against the Kurds as he accused them of trying to seize lands owned by Turkman and Arabs in Karkouk.