8 killed in Iraq violence

BAGHDAD – Three soldiers, a policeman and a journalist were among eight people killed Saturday in attacks in Iraq, security officials said.

In the capital’s Palestine Street, unidentified gunmen opened fire with guns equipped with silencers, killing three soldiers guarding a checkpoint and wounding two civilians, an interior ministry official said.

He said a policeman was killed the same way in Zayuna, a district of eastern Baghdad.

In Taji, north of Baghdad, three civilians were killed by a roadside bomb.

In Baquba, northeast of the capital, a bomb in a cafe killed journalist Faisal Hamza Hussein and wounded seven people, including two policemen, a provincial security official said.

Eight Iraqi journalists have been killed this year. On Thursday, Hadi al-Mehdi, a radio journalist critical of the government, was found murdered in his apartment in Baghdad.