U.S. and Iraqi officials hope the provincial polls will help resolve local power disputes that threaten to undermine security gains. Violence in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level since 2004, according to statistics compiled by the U.S. military. But sporadic attacks continue.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed two people and injured three near Duluiya, 55 miles north of Baghdad. There were conflicting accounts of the incident.
The U.S. military said the attack happened during a soccer game and a 9-year-old was among the wounded. The dead included an Iraqi officer and a member of a guard force hired by U.S. troops to help secure the region, the military said in a statement. Another guard was injured.
Iraqi police in Duluiya said the gunmen attacked a checkpoint run by policemen and the neighborhood guards. The Interior Ministry said the attack occurred in a game hall with table tennis and pool tables. Neither mentioned a soccer game.
West of Baghdad, security officials said two bombs exploded this morning in front of a police officer's home in Fallouja, killing three policemen and injuring four people.
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alexandra.zavis@latimes.com
Times staff writer Saif Hameed in Baghdad and special correspondents in Ramadi and Cairo contributed to this report.
