BAGHDAD, Feb 15: Three schoolchildren and six policemen were among 13 people killed in Baghdad on Wednesday as politicians began squaring off to form a new Iraqi government with only 10 days left until the first session of parliament.

The children were on their way to school when they stopped to look at a bag in the central neighbourhood of Al Fadel.

“I saw the children playing with a bag lying in front of a photography store and suddenly it exploded,” said Ali Mahmud, who was driving by in his minibus.

“I saw the body of one of the children thrown five metres into the street and I didn’t have time to stop my bus and ran over it. It was awful,” he said.

Shootings and three car bombs in Baghdad claimed 10 more lives, including those of six policemen.

In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen shot dead an official of the former ruling Baath party, Yunes Omar, raising to four the number of ex-Baathists killed in the city in 10 days.—AFP