DENVER, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Police and federal agents in Colorado Monday sought links between two church shootings a day earlier that killed five people and wounded five others.

The first shooting was in the town of Arvada about 12:30 a.m., where a gunman shot four people, killing two of them after being denied a place to sleep at the Youth With a Mission center, police said. A little more than 12 hours later, a gunman opened fire at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

Two people were killed and three others were injured before an unidentified female security shot and killed the gunman, the Denver Post said.

At a news briefing, Arvada Police Chief Don Wick said there was "reason to believe" the two attacks were connected, but did not elaborate.

CNN said witnesses said there were similarities in descriptions of a black-clad gunman in both shootings, which are also being investigated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The gunman had not been publicly identified early Monday.

Ice storms coat U.S. Midwest

TULSA, Okla., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Several Midwestern U.S. states were under ice storm warnings Monday following a slick, accident-filled weekend.

Ice warnings were posted in Missouri and Oklahoma with the National Weather Service in Tulsa, Okla., calling for as much as half an inch of ice accumulation in northeastern Oklahoma, the Tulsa World reported.

The storm was expected to affect the region through Wednesday, reports said.

The Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat quoted forecasters as advising drivers to use particular caution on bridges and overpasses.

Earlier in the weekend, Des Moines (Iowa) Police Department spokesman Sgt. Roger Stiles told the De Moines Register the force had received reports of 30-50 vehicle accident calls by Saturday evening but no serious injuries were reported.

By Sunday, much of the ice-slicked parts of the state were under as much as 5 inches of snow, the report said.

There were scattered power outages throughout the region during the weekend due to ice buildup on power lines, the reports said.

Baghdad jail shelled, 7 inmates killed

BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Three mortar shells were fired into a Baghdad prison complex Monday, killing seven inmates and wounding 15 others, the Iraqi Justice Ministry reported.

Ministry sources told Kuwait's KUNA news agency one of the shells fell into an open-air corridor containing cells used to hold terror suspects.

A second mortar attack was reported Monday on the Al-Dora oil refinery south of Baghdad, officials said. There was no report of injuries but the explosions triggered a massive fire at one fuel tank but firefighters were able to contain the blaze, KUNA said.

Elsewhere, correspondents for The Washington Post reported a roadside bomb Sunday killed a police chief of the mostly Shiite province of Babil, south of Baghdad. Maj. Gen. Qais al-Mamouri and two of his bodyguards were killed as their convoy encountered the remote-controlled bomb in Hilla, about 60 miles south of the capital.

Just hours earlier, Mamouri had been praised in Baghdad by U.S. military commanders for his commitment to security.

"He does not see anything through a sectarian lens," U.S. Army Col. Tom James told reporters before the attack. "It's all about Iraqi law and the people see that."

Pakistan bomber targets children in truck

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Five children and two adults were injured Monday by a suicide bomber targeting a military truck carrying schoolchildren in northwestern Pakistan.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Baseer Haider said an unidentified person rammed a car laden with explosives into a military truck carrying schoolchildren at 7:30 a.m. outside the Pakistani air force base in Kamra about 40 miles northwest of Islamabad, a New York Times correspondent reported.

Children who attend schools on military bases are routinely transported in army vehicles, the report said.

The blast came a day after a similar attack on a police checkpoint killed six civilians and a police officer in the same area, the report said.

Military officials said the attacks could be retaliation for an ongoing offensive aimed at routing militants who have terrorized the Swat Valley tourist region for the past several months, the report said.

GOP hopefuls spar before Hispanic audience

CORAL GABLES, Fla., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Immigration was the major topic Sunday when candidates for the GOP 2008 presidential nomination debated in Florida for a largely Spanish-speaking audience.

The candidates, for the most part, took a gentler tone on the subject than they have employed in previous debates, but they insisted they would close the U.S. border to illegal immigration, The New York Times reported.

In the debate, televised by the Spanish-language Univision network, the candidates alternated between praising immigrants for their contributions to the United States and articulating a tough approach on illegal immigration. Some even talked about shipping some of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants out of the country, the newspaper said.

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. -- who has largely based his presidential campaign on the immigration issue -- refused to take part in the debate. He issued a statement accusing the other candidates of pandering to Hispanic voters and asserting that holding a presidential debate in Spanish was un-American, the Times said.