BAGHDAD (AP) - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in a Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Baghdad killed two officers on Sunday, while a third officer in the neighborhood was shot to death on his way to work, police said.

North of the capital, another roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol, killing three soldiers, an officer said.

Violence in Iraq has dropped to levels not seen since January 2006, just before the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra unleashed large-scale sectarian bloodshed that left thousands dead. But roadside bombings, targeted killings and abductions remain daily occurrences, and American officials have warned that without political progress, the security gains may be unsustainable.

The roadside bomb in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood exploded about 7:30 a.m. next to the police patrol, killing two policemen and injuring two, an officer said.

About 90 minutes later, gunmen in a speeding car shot a Shiite policeman as he drove through Mansour to work, another officer said. The slain officer, Lt. Col. Aqeel Abdul-Hussein, was not in uniform at the time, the officer said.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a roadside bomb planted beneath a parked car exploded near the heavily fortified Buratha Shiite mosque, the site of one of the conflict’s deadliest suicide attacks and a frequent target of Sunni extremists. One Iraqi civilian was killed, police said. In April 2006, two suicide bombers struck the mosque, killing 85 people.

Outside the capital, a roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killed three soldiers and injured four, an officer said.

The officials who offered accounts of the attacks spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Source: news.ask.com

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