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5 killed, 14 hurt in Iraq roadside blasts

BASRA, Iraq, March 29 (UPI) -- Five Iraqi civilians were killed and 14 were wounded Sunday in a pair of roadside explosions, officials said.

An unnamed army official told CNN one of the blasts happened in Basra, where five civilians were killed and six others were wounded in a bombing that targeted a police patrol in the southern Iraqi city.

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The U.S. broadcaster said a second roadside explosion -- also appearing to target an Iraqi police patrol -- wounded eight officers in Kirkuk in the northern part of the country.

On Saturday, Iraqi security forces and members of a Baghdad Awakening Council engaged in an armed clash, killing two civilians and wounding 13 others, a military official told CNN.

The council members allegedly opened fire on Iraqi security forces after they and U.S. soldiers arrested a leader of the Fadhil Awakening Council in northern Baghdad. The 13 wounded included four soldiers and five other soldiers were kidnapped the council members, CNN said.

Awakening Councils are Sunni Arab militias -- many including former insurgents who fought against the U.S. occupation of Iraq -- who are now paid by the United States to oppose such Sunni extremist groups as al-Qaida.

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