Baghdad - Two people were killed and one injured when gunmen attacked the convoy of Barham Salih, a deputy to Iraq's prime minister, in north Kirkuk while an oil pipe was bombed in the south- west of the city, sources said Friday. Gunmen hiding in a house opened fire on Salih's convoy, which was en route to Baghdad, when fierce clashes between his security guards and the attackers broke out, the source added. One of Barham's staff and a militant were killed and an employee was wounded in the clashes, the source said. Salih was not in the convoy at the time of the attack as he was on a mission abroad.
Also Friday in Kirkuk, unidentified gunmen bombed a secondary oil pipe in the south-west of the city causing a huge fire and thick black smoke, an Iraqi police source said. A source from the North Oil Company said maintenance teams were trying to contain the situation, as they waited for firefighters to extinguish the blaze. The pipe transports crude oil from Kirkuk to the refinery in Bayji city.
Separately, a district police chief Abdullah al-Jabouri survived an assassination attempt when gunmen attacked his motorcade Friday in south-west Kirkuk, a police source said. Two of al-Jabaouri's security guards were wounded in the attack, the source added.
Meanwhile, one US soldier was killed and three were wounded when a bomb targeted their vehicle in the northern province of Salahaddin, media reports said Friday citing the US military. The attack occurred Wednesday, the reports said without giving further details.
In other news, US-led coalition forces discovered two houses used as makeshift prisons and freed five hostages held for ransom in Buhriz village in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, the US military said. The forces also discovered two weapons caches and detained six Iraqis, acting as guards for the prisons, the statement added.