Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Six Iraqi security members were killed and 14 others injured in bomb and gunfire attacks in the volatile province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, a provincial police source said.

    "A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in the town of Balad-Ruz, some 90 km northeast of Baghdad, killing four soldiers and wounding eight others," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    In a separate incident, two policemen were killed and six others were wounded when unknown gunmen attacked a police patrol in central of the provincial capital Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

    The attacks came as U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces are conducting major offensive against extremist Sunni and Shiite militiamen in Diyala which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border.