Gunmen wound senior Iraqi Defense Ministry official

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen shot and seriously wounded a
senior Iraqi Defense Ministry official and his driver on
Thursday, police sources said.

The attack on General Khalil al-Ibadi outside his home in
southwestern Baghdad appeared to be part of a campaign
targeting senior government officials.

It came a day after attackers shot dead police General
Ahmed Dawod, a deputy chief of Baghdad municipality’s
protection units.

In another attack in the capital on Thursday, a bomb
planted on the second floor of a building housing both shops
and apartments in central Baghdad wounded 13 people, police
said.

The latest violence underlines the challenge that new Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces in tackling widespread
militant and sectarian violence plaguing Iraq three years after
U.S. forces invaded to topple Saddam Hussein.