(KUNA) -- A high-ranking Iraqi military officer and two of his bodyguards were injured as a result of a bomb explosion that took place southwestern Kirkuk. An Iraqi police source told KUNA that the bomb targeted the officer's convoy while passing through the Kirkuk-Riyadh highway. In another incident, two people were killed and one was abducted when unidentified gunmen launched an attack on a group of trucks on the Kirkuk-Tikrit highway.Meanwhile an Iraqi police statement said that 20 people were killed and injured in different incidents in Iraq today. The statement said that unidentified gunmen killed four policemen and helped ten prisoners who were apprehended in a hospital lobby in Baquba in Diyala province to escape.
Unidentified gunmen launched missiles targeting residential areas in Baquba. Three people were killed and 11 others were wounded.
One civilian was killed and another injured as a result of an attack at their vehicle in the town of Baladroz south of Baquba. Iraqi police said today the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and five other hostages were released. Police added that the committee president Ahmad Al-Hijayah and a number of the committee members were released after being found in different locations.
A group of gunmen have stormed a meeting of sports officials' just days after the coach of Iraq's national wrestling team was killed. The gunmen, were wearing camouflaged Iraqi police uniforms, used at least ten vehicles for the kidnapping, police officials said.