BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Iraqi police officials said the chief of police in the northern city of Kirkuk and two of his aides were killed Sunday by an explosive device.
The officials said Gen. Hatem Khalaf Matroud and his aides were killed by a roadside bomb targeting their convoy in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
In a separate attack, another police officer was killed by gunmen who ambushed his patrol in northeastern Baghdad.
The sources said four other policemen were injured in a suicide attack targeting their patrol in al-Mahmoudiya south of the capital.
In al-Qadisiya north of Tikrit, 124 miles (200 kilometers) north of Baghdad, an explosive device targeting an Iraqi army patrol exploded, injuring a soldier.
Meanwhile, the authorities said they arrested two people as they were trying to plant a bomb in a road tunnel in the center of the capital.
They added the bomb was safely detonated after sealing off the area.
Roadside bombs and insurgent ambushes targeting Iraqi police and army patrols, as well as U.S. military convoys, have become a daily occurrence in this war-torn country.
