Gunmen ambushed a convoy of a senior official in western Baghdad on Tuesday, wounding four people, police said.

"A group of gunmen attacked the convoy of the under secretary of the Ministry of Justice in al-Quzat district in western Baghdad at about 4:00 p.m. (1200 GMT), wounding three of his bodyguards and a civilian," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The source said the senior official was not in the convoy at the time.

In a separate incident, Iraqi Environment Minister Narmin Uthman escaped an assassination attempt on Monday, when armed men attacked her convoy north of Baghdad, police said.

The attack took place near the town of Adhaim, some 100 km north of Baghdad, as the woman Kurdish minister was traveling from the northern city of Sulaimaniya to Baghdad.

Three of her bodyguards were wounded in the attack, but some of the attackers were believed to have been killed.

Source: Xinhua