RAMADI, Iraq (AP) – Residents found the body of the Anbar province deputy governor, who had been kidnapped earlier this month, hospital officials said Saturday.

Bassem Mohammed’s body was found Friday evening near Ramadi General Hospital, said Dr. Abdel Munim Aftan, the facility’s director.

Some residents said Mohammed was beheaded, but Aftan would only confirm that he was killed.

Relatives collected Mohammed’s body from the hospital on Saturday, Aftan said.

Explosions rock airport road

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Explosions went off on the road near Baghdad’s airport Saturday and plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the scene, witnesses said.

The area was sealed off after the blast, witnesses said. The treacherous stretch of the road is the site of daily attacks against U.S. troops and their supply convoys.

It was unclear whether there were casualties in the blasts, which went off near an overpass.

Assassination attempt fails

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) – A senior official with Iraq’s state-run North Oil Co. survived an assassination attempt Saturday after his convoy came under attack in the northeastern city of Mosul, police said.

Mohammed Zibari, the head of the company’s oil products department in the Nineveh province, was traveling in a three-vehicle convoy on his way to work in Mosul when unidentified gunmen opened fire, killing five of his bodyguards and wounding four others, said police Lt. Mohammed Ali.

Zibari, who is in charge of supplying the province with oil and gas, escaped unharmed, Ali said.