Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    BAQUBA, Iraq, March 14 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi soldier was killed and two others were wounded in a bomb explosion in the volatile province of Diyala on Saturday, a provincial police source said.

    The blast hit an Iraqi Army foot patrol near a village, some 30km east of the provincial capital city of Baquba, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    In separate incident, unknown gunmen stormed a sewage facility in southern Baquba and kidnapped three workers, the source said.

    He said that the attackers on the facility believed to be al-Qaida militants and that the incident is under investigation.

    Diyala province, which stretches from eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has been the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq network and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.