Gunmen attacked an Iraqi government convoy Sunday and wounded a bodyguard of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but the leader was not in the procession, officials said as violence rose in Baghdad after a post-Ramadan lull. A mortar attack elsewhere in the capital killed four Iraqis and wounded four, while other gun assaults left two policemen and a civilian dead and two officers wounded. A kidnapped state television host and his driver also were found slain. North of Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a convoy of Sunni pilgrims bound for Islam's holy city of Mecca and killed at least one person, with attacks across Iraq causing a total of at least 15 deaths. The bodies of 23 people also were found, most believed to be the victims of sectarian reprisal killings. The U.S. military said its troops foiled an ambush near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, early Sunday, killing 17 suspected insurgents with gunfire and aerial attacks. No U.S. or Iraqi soldiers died in the fighting, the military said in a statement.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh did not release the name of al-Maliki's bodyguard or give his condition, but said the prime minister was not in the convoy hit by gunfire in the volatile capital's southeastern al-Rashad neighborhood. He gave no other details on the attack.