Four people killed and 16 wounded, including two Norwegians, in spate of attacks in Iraq

A spate of attacks in Iraq on Monday has killed four people and wounded at least 16, including two Norwegians.

An Iraqi guard was killed in the morning explosion in the eastern neighborhood of Baghdad Jadidah that wounded the Norwegians, who were working as consultants for Iraq's water resources ministry. "They are both getting medical help and will eventually be fine," a spokesman for the Norwegian embassy in Baghdad said. "One will need an operation on his leg, but will be OK."

In a separate attack, a traffic policeman was killed by gunmen using silenced weapons in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Utayfiyah.

Also on Monday, a roadside bomb targeting Baghdad provincial council chief Kamil al-Zaidi blew up as the politician's convoy was on the edge of the neighborhood of Sadr City. Eight people were wounded in the attack, including three policemen, but Zaidi was unharmed.

Another roadside bomb targeting a police patrol near Al-Wathiq square in central Baghdad wounded four people, including three policemen.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, insurgents killed and mutilated a Christian construction worker who was kidnapped at the weekend, police and medical officials said. Ashur Issa Yaqub, a 29-year-old Chaldean Christian, was found with his head nearly completely cut off, according to provincial police chief Major General Jamal Taher Bakr and Kirkuk province health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul.

Also in Kirkuk province, a Kurdish man was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Tuz Khurmatu, the town's police chief Colonel Ali al-Hamdani said. It was unclear why the man was targeted.