Wave of attacks in Iraq kill four

Shootings and bombings in Iraq on Friday killed four people, including a parliamentary official and a senior emergency officer, officials said. In Baghdad, civil defence Colonel Mohammed Yunis was killed and his wife and two children were wounded when gunmen opened fire on the family's car just outside the capital's heavily-fortified Green Zone, home to parliament and the US embassy, an interior ministry official and a medical source said. And in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Saidiyah, gunmen shot at Assad Mohammed, an official in the office of deputy parliament speaker Qusay al-Sohail, with Mohammed dying of his wounds in hospital, the officials said. Outside the northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Iraqi soldier, a local police official and Doctor Mohammed Abdullah from Kirkuk hospital said. And in Baladruz, in the central province of Diyala, a roadside bomb blew up near a car, killing one civilian and wounding two others, according to a police colonel. A doctor in the main hospital in provincial capital Baquba confirmed receiving the body and treating the wounded. Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006-2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Diyala. A total of 132 Iraqis were killed in violence in May, according to official figures.