A car bomb on Thursday killed two Iraqi policemen who were trying to defuse it in Baghdad's Sadr City section. A police officer said authorities had stepped up security in Sadr City after receiving tips that 10 car bombs had entered the area.
The Interior Ministry confirmed that it had received tips about car bombs aimed at Sadr City from people calling into a terror hotline.
Meanwhile, Gunmen attacked the convoy of Iraq's Shi'ite vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, in Baghdad, but there were no immediate reports of any injuries, Interior Ministry officials said, according to Reuters. An aide to Mahdi denied any attack had occurred, saying the vice president was in his office.
Two Interior Ministry officials told Reuters Mahdi was in the convoy but was not hurt. One of Mahdi's aides called for help from the U.S. military and Iraqi security forces, one of the officials said.
The ministry official said U.S. and Iraqi forces had arrived on the scene, secured the area and escorted the convoy to safety.
Also Thursday, gunmen in military uniforms kidnapped dozens of people from a commercial area in central Baghdad, police said, according to the AP. The attackers drove up to the busy al-Sanak area in some 10 sport utility vehicles and started rounding up shop owners and bystanders. Two police officers said 50 to 70 people were abducted.
The stores are owned by a mix of Shiites, Sunnis and others.
Elsewhere in the capital Thursday, gunmen stormed a boys' school in the southwestern Alam neighborhood, killing a Shiite guard, police said.
