Baghdad  - A university professor and a policeman were killed in separate attacks early on Tuesday in Iraq, according to security and police sources.

Gunmen killed Ahmed Abbas al-Weis, a university professor at al- Anbar University, sources said. The attackers were dressed in military outfit when they shot the professor near his home in al- Zeidan district.

UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that more than 200 academics were killed between the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 until 2006, while hundreds more went missing or have been driven into exile.

Although the number of scholars assassinated decreased as violence dropped across the war-torn country after 2006, earlier this year two university professors were killed in the northern city of Mosul.

In separate incident, a policeman was killed when gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Abu Ghraib, 20 kilometres west of Baghdad, sources added.

Elsewhere, 16 wanted Iraqis were arrested in Nineveh provincial capital Mosul on Tuesday, according to a local police source.

Military forces arrested the suspects during search and raid operations in the Hadbaa area after an attempt to assassinate the imam of the area Monday night, the source was quoted by Yaqen. net as saying. (dpa)