BAHGDAD - Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in separate attacks around the country on Wednesday, police said, adding to a daily drumbeat of violence that has killed more than 600 people this month.
Eight police commandos were also wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded near a school in the southern Baghdad district of Dura, an interior ministry official said.
In the restive northern commercial hub of Mosul, a police chief from the nearby town of Shorgat was shot dead by gunmen.
"Colonel Muklef Mussa, who was in Mosul for a law school night course was killed at 12:45 pm (0845 GMT) by armed men who escaped," said Mohammed Fathi, commander of the local police force.
Another Iraqi police officer was killed by a bomb in Dohuk farther north, police said. One bomb went off and when an Iraqi police patrol arrived, another one exploded, killing the officer.
In addition, an Iraqi soldier and an insurgent were killed near dawn in an exchange of gunfire close to Balad about 70 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital, police sauid.
Many of those killed in this month's violence have been members of Iraqi security forces struggling to bring the country's increasing lawlessness under control.
05/25/2005 13:11 GMT