Baghdad, July 23 (DPA) At least 62 people were killed and 177 injured in attacks across Iraq Sunday, police, medical sources and eyewitnesses said.
A car bombing in front of a judicial building in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk Sunday killed 23 people and injured 103 others, a medical source said. The car, which contained 600 kg of explosives, was detonated remotely, a police source said earlier.
In a separate attack, at least 35 Iraqis were killed and 74 injured when a suicide bomber exploded a minibus in a marketplace near the eastern Baghdad suburb of Sadr City Sunday, eyewitnesses and police sources said.
The powerful explosion took place between Sadr City and Jamila district, a Shiite-dominated area that is home to the biggest fresh food market in the Iraqi capital.
The market was packed with shoppers on the first day of the Iraqi working week.
Another car bombing on July 1 in Sadr City targeting a passing police patrol killed at least 66 people and injured nearly 100.
In further violence, gunmen ambushed a fuel truck, killing the driver and two of his assistants in Aziziya, 80 km south of the Iraq capital, police said. The truck caught fire, but fire fighters were able to bring the blaze under control.
In Kut, 170 km from here, an Iraqi translator working for US-led coalition forces was killed after being abducted in front of his home Saturday evening.
Iraqi police sources said that the body of Nader Nasser was found east of the city with gunshot wounds and signs of torture.
Meanwhile, US and Iraqi forces killed 15 alleged terrorists during a three-hour firefight in Mussayib, Babil province Saturday, a US military statement released Saturday night said.
An Iraqi soldier was also killed in the fighting that began after rebels attacked a US patrol with antitank grenades and gunfire.
Combined US and Iraqi forces also detained 154 terrorist suspects and seized weaponry and explosives during Operation Gaugamela in the Kirkuk area, the US military said.
The operation is aimed at hunting down suspected Al Qaeda-linked fighters in the cities and areas surrounding Hawija and Riyadh, just west of the northern city of Kirkuk.
In another statement Sunday, the US military reported that Iraqi forces freed two Iraqi hostages and detained eight insurgents early Sunday while hunting for alleged members of the "death squads" that carry out most of the sectarian killings in Baghdad.