BAGHDAD - Nine Iraqis were killed and 17 wounded in attacks around the country on Monday, police and medics said, as insurgents continued to strike at Iraq's fledgling security forces.
Four people were killed and nine wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into two police vehicles at a roadside checkpoint early in the day in southwest Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.
Two of those killed were policemen burned to death in their vehicle.
Medics said six policemen and three civilians were wounded in the attack in Saydiyah district and taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Two more people were killed when a parked car exploded at about 6:15 pm (1415 GMT) in the crowded southern business district of Dura, the official said.
Earlier, a car bomb wounded five Iraqi soldiers and three civilians near an army checkpoint on Palestine street in eastern Baghdad, police said.
Baghdad has seen near daily car bomb attacks over the past three weeks.
Elsewhere, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Dalaf al-Qaissy, head of the defence force at Baiji oil refinery, 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of Baghdad, was gunned down by assailants as he left for work, police Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Salah told AFP.
Dr Khalid al-Juburi said "the victim's body was found riddled with 22 bullets."
Truck driver Sami Nazar Ali was killed by insurgents who attacked a US-escorted convoy in Ishaki, 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
And an Iraqi soldier was killed by a roadside bomb as a US-Iraqi convoy passed Shabab village near Dujail, 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the capital, said army Captain Muayad al-Shadeedi. Four suspects were arrested.
05/09/2005 15:25 GMT