Bombers strike in Mosul, Baghdad
October 12, 2008 18:54 EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Officials say at least seven people are dead after two suicide car bomb blasts in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul . Dozens were wounded.

One of attacks killed six people, including the bomber. The other blast killed only the attacker.

In Baghdad, seven people died in a car bombing today. And two Iraqi soldiers were killed by snipers.

Iraq's government, meantime, has announced new security measures to protect Christians in Mosul after a spate of attacks against them by Sunni religious extremists. The provincial governor says about 3,000 Christians have fled the city in just the past week to escape threats and attacks by Sunni extremists.

Iraq's Sunni vice president says the plight of Mosul Christians indicates "a real defect" in security operations there. He says Christians have the right to be protected from "criminals and murderers."

The Interior Ministry is promising more police in Christian neighborhoods and more checkpoints and patrols near churches.