(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-17 09:21

Iraqi police and army officials said 15 people were killed and 10 wounded, including two children, in the clashes some 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Mohammed Azzawi Ali al-Timimi, 30, said he was out buying supplies for his store when the attacks occurred. He returned home to devastation.

"When I came back to my Jichan village I was shocked to find that my father had been killed, along with two of my brothers and my 7-year-old nephew," he said. "Four other houses of my relatives were attacked as well and more than eight cars were burned out."

Farther north, a booby-trapped bicycle exploded in the religiously mixed town of Tuz Khormato, killing at least five people and wounding 19.

Witnesses said a boy left the bike near the outdoor cafe, which was in a popular market and was one of the few open during daylight hours despite Ramadan. Tradition requires the faithful to abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset during the monthlong observance.

Two of the slain victims were in the cafe, while three were in the market, police chief Capt. Abbas Mohammed said.

No one claimed responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmark of Sunni insurgents led by al-Qaida and underscored militants' ability to find new ways to thwart stringent security measures.

In Baghdad, Iraqi police said security contractors opened fire in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood of western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least nine civilians.

The US Embassy said contractors working for the State Department were involved in an incident in Baghdad but provided no further details. Leslie Phillips, a State Department spokeswoman in Washington, said an investigation was under way.

"We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby. One minute later, we heard the sound of bomb explosion followed by gunfire that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street started to flee immediately," said Hussein Abdul-Abbas, who owns a cell phone store nearby.

State-run Iraqiya television reported that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the shootings by a "foreign security company."

The police officer who reported the shootings in Mansour spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

American soldiers arrived afterward and were not involved, military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl said.

Many contractors have been accused of indiscriminately opening fire and shooting to death Iraqis who get too close to their heavily armed convoys, but none has faced charges or prosecution.

The wartime numbers of private guards are unprecedented - as are their duties, many of which have traditionally been done by soldiers. They protect US military operations and have guarded high-ranking officials including Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander in Baghdad.

They also protect journalists, visiting foreign officials and thousands of construction projects.

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