Insurgents in Iraq launched a series of new attacks on Saturday, killing at least seven people, including two British contractors.

British officials say the two contractors were traveling in a British consular convoy that was hit by a roadside bomb. The attack in the relatively quiet town of Basra also injured two Iraqi children.

In Baghdad, Iraqi police said a suicide car bomber attacked a police checkpoint, killing at least five people and injuring 25 others.

Meanwhile, a Sunni Arab leader, Sheikh Khalaf al-Ilayan, said he was not hurt in an assassination attempt by gunmen wearing Iraqi military uniforms.

And officials said kidnappers seized an Iraqi health ministry official from her Baghdad home.

Police also reported finding the bodies of three Baghdad airport employees kidnapped earlier this week.