The robbers stormed the shop in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite southeastern Zafaraniyah neighborhood wielding weapons fitted with silencers, added police.

An official in Zafaraniyah hospital confirmed the deaths.

Both he and a policeman spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Despite a nationwide drop in violence across Iraq over the last several years, attacks on jewelry stores and banks have begun to surge — possibly funding some insurgent activities, officials say.

In the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, a Kurdish journalist’s car exploded outside his house early in the morning while he was sleep. A local policeman said it appeared to be a deliberate attack on Suran Omar, 33, who has been a critic of the semiautonomous Kurdish government’s rule.

Nobody was hurt in the blast, said the policeman, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Omar said he was not cowed.

“Their message of threat is received,” he said. “It is a deed of cowards, and I will continue my activities.” ___= Associated Press Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, and Sameer N. Yacoub in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.