Iraq's deputy police chief, son assassinated

The Deputy Police Chief of Baghdad and his son, also a police officer, were shot dead on Monday, an interior ministry official said.

Brigadier Amer Ali Nayef and his son, Lieutenant Khalid Amer, were assassinated in Baghdad's south Dora district while travelling in a car on their way to work, said a spokesman for the ministry, Captain Ahmed Ismail.

Gunmen sprayed machine-gun fire from two cars, which were driving parallel to the police chief's vehicle before fleeing the scene of the attack, police said. The two were alone in their car.

In a separate attack, a suicide car bomb exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad on Monday, killing at least four policemen and injuring 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack.

The explosion took place at 8 am (0500 GMT) in the Zafarniyah district, Police Commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said the explosion happened as policemen were changing shifts. An Associated Press photographer saw a number of bodies inside the courtyard that was cordoned off by police.

The killings were the latest in a series of attacks against ranking Iraqi security force officials and policemen on the eve of a landmark January 30 election that insurgents are trying to disrupt.

Last Tuesday, gunmen shot dead the Governor of Baghdad, Ali al-Haidari, and six of his bodyguards.