Car bombs kill 4 in Iraq

An Iraqi mourns over the coffin of a relative outside the morgue of a hospital in the restive city of Baquba yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

The latest violence came after two days in which Baghdad police had found the corpses of total of 110 murder victims scattered across the Iraqi capital, which is in the grip of a vicious turf war between Sunni and Shiite factions.

Two car bombs detonated almost simultaneously near the ministry of labour in the northeast of the city, killing two civilians and wounding 12 more.

Another booby-trapped vehicle exploded in the southeast of the city, killing two bystanders and wounding 22 people, including eight policemen.

Meanwhile, gunmen assassinated Sheikh Raad Mutar Saleh, a leader of the tiny sect of Sabeans, sometimes known as Mandeans, a small pre-Muslim Gnostic group which is thought to have links to Judaism and early Christianity.

The Sabeans are monotheistic, practice baptism and are mentioned in the Muslim Koran -- along with Christians and Jews -- as a "people of the book".

Traditionally known as skilled silversmiths, Sabeans historically live in small numbers -- fewer than 20,000 -- in Iraq and Iran, although many have fled regional unrest and taken refuge in western countries.

Muta Saleh was shot dead in Suweira, 65 kilometres (35 miles) southeast of Baghdad in the Tigris river valley, police said.