Iraqi suicide bomber kills 7 police officers

Story Highlights

• NEW: Two doctors kidnapped in Baghdad
• Four attacks wound 21 in Baghdad, including soccer players during match
• Suicide bomber kills at least seven officers in police station
• Six U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bombs

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber walked into a police station in Muqdadiya, Iraq, on Sunday morning and blew himself up, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 30 more, according to a security official in the Diyala province .

Muqdadiya is a mixed Sunni-Shiite town and is located about 55 miles northeast of Baghdad.

In Samawa, in Iraq's southern Muthanna province, fighting between gunmen and police continued Sunday despite a curfew.

Five police officers have been killed since the fighting broke out on Saturday, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf said Sunday.

"The army and police are present and are working to restore stability to the city," said Gen. Khalaf.

The interior ministry spokesman could not identify the gunmen responsible for the clashes, but militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are known to operate there.

Four separate attacks in Baghdad wounded 21 Iraqis on Sunday, including seven soccer players with the Al-Zawra club, wounded when three mortar rounds exploded in a field on western Baghdad where they were playing a match, an Interior Ministry official said.

Gunmen kidnapped a doctor working for the Iraqi Health Ministry. Mohammed Qassim Mahmoud was driving on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad about 5 p.m. (9 a.m. ET), when an unknown number of gunmen kidnapped him. An hour later, gunmen kidnapped a second doctor in central Baghdad, Qassim Saleh, who has a private practice in the capital.

Roadside bombs wounded 18 people in the town of Khaneqain, in Diyala province, and three people in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

Iraqi police reported finding 29 bullet-riddled bodies in different areas of Baghdad on Sunday. All were apparent victims of sectarian violence. Many of the bodies showed signs of torture with their hands tied and were blindfolded, police said.

Four separate roadside bomb attacks killed six U.S. soldiers and wounded six others Saturday near the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said Sunday.

A bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded another in the 89th Military Police Brigade east of Baghdad, the military said.

Another U.S. soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near a Multi-National Division-Baghdad combat patrol operating southwest of Baghdad, the military said. The patrol was conducting a combat resupply mission.

A fifth U.S. soldier was killed and four were wounded during operations southeast of Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded near the soldier's vehicle. "The patrol was conducting combat operations in order to search for suspected terrorists in the area and re-establish security for the local populace," the military said.

A bomb also killled a U.S. soldier assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in Diayala province, and wounded another soldier from the same unit, the military said.

This brings the number of U.S. military deaths this month to 80 and the number during the Iraq war to 2,969, including seven civilian employees of the Defense Department.

Other developments

On Saturday, residents in Baquba blamed U.S. troops for a rocket attack that killed six people and wounded six others, including women and children, on Friday, a Baquba joint coordination center official said. The U.S. military declined to comment Saturday but said it was investigating the incident.

An Iraqi Red Crescent Society official said Saturday that 13 hostages -- nearly a third of the 41 people abducted at or near an Iraqi Red Crescent Society office in Baghdad a week ago -- remain in captivity. The remaining hostages have been identified as 12 Red Crescent employees and a Dutch Embassy guard. The Iraqi Red Crescent suspended its operations in Baghdad following the incident.

President Bush heard Saturday from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had just returned from Iraq, about Iraqi leaders' plans to address sectarian violence. Gates met with Iraqi leaders, U.S. commanders and soldiers in the field. ( Full story)

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reportedly withheld support Saturday for a U.S.-backed plan to build a coalition across sectarian lines. The move jeopardized hopes that such a show of political unity could help stem the country's deadly violence. (Full story)

CNN's Sam Dagher contributed to this report.

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