At least eight Iraqi army soldiers died early Wednesday when a house they were preparing to raid blew up, army and police officials said. The incident occurred about 1 a.m. in the town of Sadiyah, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, when a gunman opened fire on soldiers from a house near an Iraqi army checkpoint, the officials were quoted as saying by the Associated Press. The soldiers called in support and surrounded the house. The house then blew up, killing the eight soldiers and wounding another four. Meanwhile in Baghdad, gunmen broke into the house of a senior female doctor and killed her, Iraq's health minister and a police official said. The minister, Saleh al-Hasnawi, said the gunmen broke into the house of Dr. Intissar al-Tuwaijri at about 6:00 a.m., tied up her husband and killed her. Al-Hasnawi said he believed the killing of the physician he described as one of the best doctors in the country was a criminal incident, and that his ministry was waiting for the results of a police investigation. Al-Tuwaijri was the general director of Alwiyah Maternity hospital in Baghdad's central Karradah area. A police officer said the preliminary investigation showed that the gunmen used pistols fitted with silencers and stole 250 million Iraqi dinars (about $215,000).
