Six Iraqis and a Turkish truck driver have been killed in ambushes while seven others have lost their lives near Karbala. With regard to the Karbala deaths, Aljazeera has learned that in addition to the fatalities, a women and her child were injured in Sunday's incident, which involved an explosion in a house in the western al-Askari suburb. A police source said the blast was most likely caused by an explosive device blowing up while being prepared for a sabotage operation. In Baghdad, politician Abd al-Hussain, of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation, died instantly when three masked armed men opened fire as he left his home on Sunday, party leader Mithal Alussi said. He blamed the Baath party of ousted president Saddam Hussein and intelligence agents of neighbouring Syria for the killing. The Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation was recently expelled from a wider coalition after Alussi made a trip to Israel.