Insurgents kill nine in Iraq

September 7, 2011 at 1:01AM

Insurgents attacked a mini-bus filled with Iraqi soldiers in Anbar Province, killing all nine people aboard in a storm of gunfire, another episode in a wave of violence that has roiled Iraq in recent weeks.

Attacks across the country, particularly in the western province of Anbar, have increased significantly as insurgents have deployed a variety of deadly means, including ambushes, improvised explosive devices and car bombs to kill civilians and Iraqi security forces.

The recent increase has raised fears about a resurgence of Al-Qaida in Iraq, which once controlled large areas of Anbar and said in August that it would conduct 100 attacks to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Around 10 a.m., the mini-bus, which was transporting soldiers back to work from days off, approached two vehicles that were blocking the main highway about 100 miles west of Ramadi, the provincial capital.

As the mini-bus slowed, gunmen fired on it, killing eight soldiers and the driver. The gunmen then burned the bus and fled, according to local officials.

Each body in the bus had dozens of bullet wounds, the officials said.

CHINA TO TIGHTEN ARMS SALES

China will tighten its procedures for selling weapons abroad after the disclosure that state-owned arms manufacturers were negotiating arms sales to Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan government as it sought to fend off rebel fighters this summer, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said China would continue to obey a U.N. embargo on weapons sales that was approved in February with Chinese support.

The rebels, who now hold power in Tripoli, the capital, have said they think Chinese companies shipped weapons to Gadhafi forces. China has insisted that the negotiations took place without the government's knowledge and that no weapons were shipped.

The proposed arms deals, totaling $200 million, were outlined in Libyan procurement documents found in a Tripoli trash heap by a Canadian journalist after the rebels moved into Tripoli. The papers give no indication that any of the proposed deals with three Chinese companies was completed.

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