Violence kills nine in Iraqi capital

Violence north of Baghdad yesterday killed nine people, including five members of a Sunni Arab family slain early in the morning, Iraqi security and medical officials said.
In yesterday's deadliest attack, a primary school teacher and his family were gunned down inside their home in the village Al-Jalam, near the town of Al-Dour in Salaheddin province.
"Two gunmen stormed the house of Yunis Hassan Salman after midnight and they killed him, his wife, their two sons and their daughter before running away," an Iraqi army first lieutenant said on condition of anonymity.
Mainly Sunni Arab Salaheddin province was a key battleground in the insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime.
In the main northern city of Mosul, four people were killed and 55 others wounded in two apparently coordinated explosions near the provincial governor's official residence.
The attacks come with just months to go before all US soldiers must withdraw from the country, with American officials pressing their counterparts in Baghdad to decide whether or not they want an extended US military presence.