Gunmen in Iraq kill 2 at soccer game

There was other violence Sunday elsewhere in Iraq.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen attacked a soccer game north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing a policeman and a Sunni Muslim allied with the U.S. against al-Qaida, the U.S. military said.

The attack near Duluyiah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, also wounded three others, including a 9-year-old and a second member of the local U.S.-backed awakening council, the military said.

“To fire upon a soccer game where the people of Iraq are starting to enjoy normalcy and happiness is another example of the barbaric nature of the insurgents,” Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in four years, but frequent attacks continue throughout the country.

A roadside bomb exploded near the house of a police captain 40 miles west of Baghdad in Fallujah on Sunday, killing four policemen and wounding eight others, police said. The wounded included four policemen and four civilians.

All those caught in the blast were drawn to the location by an initial roadside bomb that exploded 10 minutes earlier, police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Also Sunday, a roadside bomb struck a truck near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. The blast injured the driver and his assistant, who later died of their wounds at a nearby hospital, said the police, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.