Shooting and bombing kill 9 in Baghdad: Police

Baghdad, May 18: Nine people today died in a shooting and a bombing in Baghdad police said.

Gunmen opened fire on a minibus taking labourers to work in southwestern Baghdad, killing five people and wounding one.

In northern Baghdad, four people were killed and three others wounded in a blast apparently targeting a police patrol. Police sources said it was not immediately clear whether the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb or a car bomb.

The latest violence came as Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki was expected soon to unveil a unity government in which the country's main ethnic and religious groups share power, ending months of political paralysis.

The United States, which has 133,000 troops in Iraq three years after Saddam Hussein's overthrow, hopes a broad-based coalition will help end sectarian and guerrilla violence.

REUTERS