- Reuters
The coffin of Colonel Salam al-Mamouri, commander of the anti-insurgent Scorpion police force, lies at the Imam Abbas shrine during a funeral in the holy city of Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, yesterday. A bomb planted inside a police station killed al-Mamouri and five other people. The blast wounded 12 others and punched a hole in the building's ceiling, according to police reports.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP):

Gunmen killed six women and two young girls picking vegetables in a field in an area south of Baghdad yesterday in a day that saw at least 18 people killed in attacks across Iraq.

The women and young girls were killed at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) by unidentified gunmen on the western outskirts of Suwayrah, which is 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police Lt. Mohammed al-Shammari said. Two other teenage girls were kidnapped, al-Shammari said.

The gunmen arrived in two cars, but it was not known how many people were involved. The dead girls were aged about four or five, al-Shammari said.

The motivation for the attack wasn't clear, although the mixed area has been wracked by insurgent violence, and large numbers of both Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs have fled.

Soldier killed

A U.S. soldier with the 105th Engineer Group was killed by a roadside bomb in northern Iraq on Thursday, the U.S. command said without providing further details.

In Hillah, about 95 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad, a bomb planted in the Interior Ministry police headquarters building killed Col. Salam al-Mamouri, commander of the Scorpion police battalion, and his aide, while injuring seven others, police Lt. Osama Ahmed said.

Police were investigating whether the bomb could have been planted by a policeman from the brigade, Ahmed said.

Ahmed said the bomb appeared to have been planted under the commander's chair or desk, by someone who evaded requirements that vehicles and officers entering the base be searched.

The U.S. command said two other people injured in the bombing had been taken to a local hospital. It said U.S. and Iraqi forces had thrown up a security cordon around the area and dispatched explosives experts to investigate the bombing.

In Baqouba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad, a father and his two sons were killed by unknown gunmen in the city's downtown al-Tahrir, provincial police said.