Sepcial Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen killed three policemen and wounding another when they attacked a police patrol in western Baghdad on Friday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Unidentified armed men opened fire at about 8:30 a.m. (0530GMT) at a police patrol near Said al-Halib shop at the end of 14 Ramadan Street in Mansur district, killing three of them and wounding another," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    A gunfire rattled throughout the street and prompted the Iraqi security forces to cordoned off the area, blocking the streets leading to the scene, the source said.

    Separately, the Iraqi police found seven bodies at the entrance of the al-Bunoug neighborhood in northern Baghdad, the source said.

    The bodies were blindfolded and bound and were shot with bullets in the head and chest, he added.

    Earlier, gunmen attacked a bakeshop, killing four workers and wounding another before they blew up a makeshift bomb near a police vehicle, which raced to the scene in southern Baghdad district, killing a police officer and wounding a policeman.

    A wave of sectarian reprisal attacks between the main Iraqi Shiite and Sunni communities in the wake of a bombing attack that destroyed a major Shiite shrine in northern Iraq on Feb. 22.

    Insurgents, on the other hand, frequently attack Iraqi security forces in an attempt to cripple the U.S.-backed political process in the war-torn country. Enditem