MOSUL, Iraq, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Shootings and a bombing have killed two policemen and a soldier overnight in and around Iraq's northern city of Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, a provincial police source said on Saturday.

    A policeman was gunned down by an unknown gunman in Mosul's central Bab al-Tob neighborhood, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Another policeman was killed when an unidentified armed group showered him with bullets near his house in the al-Karama neighborhood, in eastern Mosul, the source said.

    A soldier was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his army patrol as it was passing in al-Ba'aj area, some 110 km west of Mosul, he said, adding that one of the vehicles was badly damaged by the blast.

    In addition, a sniper shot injured another soldier when he was manning a checkpoint in the al-Siha neighborhood in western Mosul, he source added.

    Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.

    The Nineveh province, also known as Ninawa, has been the scene of a major security crackdown by U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces. The crackdown was aimed at uprooting al-Qaida militants and other anti-U.S. insurgent groups.

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