By DPA
Baghdad : A total of 24 Iraqis were reported killed Saturday in different incidents of violence, Iraqi authorities said Saturday.
Police sources told DPA that at least 16 Al Qaeda-affiliated militants were gunned down overnight during armed clashes between them and police forces in southern Samara, about 118 km north of Baghdad.
The militants belonged to The Islamic State of Iraq, an Iraq-based extremist group with strong links to the Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network.
“Two of the militants were Arabs, while one was Iranian. These were among the dead in the clashes,” said an official source who refused to be identified.
He added that the militants succeeded in controlling many areas in Moatassem, southern Samara, in addition to an energy station.
The source also said that neither the Iraqi nor US Army interfered in the clashes.
Iraqi police told DPA that six Kurdish truck drivers were killed Saturday morning and six others were wounded when three explosives went off as their trucks passed by south of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad.
The trucks were carrying cement blocks to Iraqi and US army bases in the area. The trucks and their loads suffered considerable damage.
Kirkuk’s police department also said that one policeman was killed and five were wounded when a bomb went off near a police patrol.
Similarly, another policeman was killed and six wounded in the town of Alexandria, 40 km south of Baghdad, when a bomb went off near a police patrol, local authorities said.