Iraqi police say at least eight policemen were killed in separate insurgent attacks in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk Tuesday.

In Kirkuk, insurgents ambushed a police patrol, killing four officers. Hours afterwards, two more policemen died in a roadside bomb blast on the outskirts of the city.

An hooded Iraqi soldier secures the area where a car bomb exploded near a restaurant in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, early Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2005

In Baghdad, at least two policemen were killed and several people were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a restaurant popular with police officers.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi forces are continuing an operation against insurgents in western Iraq, despite calls from the country's Sunni Arab leaders to halt such operations. Sunni leaders say halting such attacks in mostly Sunni areas will encourage Sunnis to participate in next month's parliamentary elections.