New violence plagued central and northern Iraq Thursday, killing at least 16 people.
In the deadliest attack, insurgents killed seven people and injured three others at the home of a Sunni politician Fawaz al-Jarba, in the northern city of Mosul.
In Baghdad, a senior Oil Ministry official Ali Hameed was shot and killed outside his home. Also in the capital, a U.S. soldier was killed when his convoy struck a roadside bomb.
| US, Iraqi security forces inspect scene of roadside bomb in Baquba, Thursday |
To the north, in Baquba, a roadside bomb blast killed two policemen. And in Samarra, a police officer and his father were shot dead.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi visited Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani at his home in Najaf. The Iranian-born ayatollah is Iraq's highest Shi'ite authority. There were no details of the meeting, but both men have called for calm in Iraq.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP and AFP.
