Iraqi ministry official is assassinated

BAGHDAD, May 8 (UPI) -- A senior Iraqi Transport Ministry official was assassinated Sunday near his home in western Baghdad, security officials said.

Three gunmen in a small car opened fire at an automobile transporting Ali Yassin al-Mueini, the ministry's director of projects.

Also Sunday, U.S.-led forces said they arrested approximately 60 people and killed six suspected insurgents during a raid in al-Qaim in western Iraq near the Syrian border.

In the northern town of al-Towz, outside the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police arrested six people suspected of illegally trading in weapons.