Officials in Iraq say the country's interim Public Works Minister Nisreen Mustafa al-Burwari has escaped an assassination attempt.
Ms Burwari, a Kurd, was unhurt after gunmen opened fire on her convoy in the northern city of Mosul, but at least two of her bodyguards were killed.
Earlier, also in Mosul, gunmen shot dead a British and a Canadian civilian in the northern city of Mosul.
Witnesses said the two civilians were travelling in a vehicle on their way to work at a power station when they came under fire.
The men's bodies, wearing blue flak jackets, lay in the road beside their burned-out vehicle for an hour after the attack.
Three other foreigners in the convoy managed to reach the power station after the attack.
In Kirkuk, also in the north of the country, three civilians were injured when a bomb concealed in a police sentry box exploded in the city centre.
