An empty minibus loaded with explosives detonated near a hospital in east Baghdad Monday, killing three people and injuring 13, police said. Other violence in and around Baghdad killed another six people, bring the total to nine. A total of 21 people were injured.In the minibus attack, Lt. Mohammed Khayoun of the Baghdad emergency police said it exploded near the al-Kindi hospital and east Baghdad's Nadhaa bus station. The driver of the van abandoned it on the street and ran, he added. All three killed were Iraqi civilians, while the injured included five police officers, he said.
In Baghdad, police said that a number of clashes between the unidentified gunmen, police and the Iraqi army resulted in the deaths of two police officers and the injury of another nine. A police sergeant was reportedly killed by an American patrol, police Capt. Taleb Thamer said. In Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi woman and injured five other people.
Police also reported that a businessman, identified as 43-year-old Mohammed Yousif, was kidnapped along with his 23 year-old son in Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. No other details were available. Another two people were killed in an early morning drive-by shooting in Baghdad southern Dora district.