Attacks targeting soldiers, militia kill 7 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Separate attacks in Iraq killed five members of an anti-militant Sunni militia and two soldiers Friday as an al-Qaida splinter group claimed responsibility for a series of Baghdad bombings that killed at least 19 people the day before.

In one of Friday’s attacks, police said gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on a security checkpoint manned by anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighters near the town of Balad, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad. The attack killed three Sunni fighters and wounded four, police said.