Iraq hit by string of deadly attacks

At least 15 people are killed in series of bombs as country goes through its worst spike in violence for years.

Monday's worst attack was in the southern city of Najaf [AP]

Attacks across Iraq have hit commercial areas and Iraqi security forces, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The deadliest attack was in the southern Shia city of Najaf, about 160km south of Baghdad, where a parked car bomb ripped through a commercial area and killed six people, Emad al-Taie, a provincial police chief, told the AP news agency.

That attack also wounded 13 people, al-Taie said

Iraq is going through its worst surge in violence since the peak of the sectarian strife in 2006 and 2007, when the country was pushed to the brink of civil war. The UN says 8,868 people were killed in 2013.

In other attacks on Monday, a suicide car bomber struck an army checkpoint in the northern town Mishahda, 30km north of the Iraqi capital, killing three soldiers and two civilians, a police officer said. The officer added that 14 people were wounded in that attack.

In a commercial area in the town of Iskandariyah, 50km south of Baghdad, two people were killed and 10 were wounded by a car bomb, another police officer said.

A car bomb also hit the southern city of Nasiriyah, killing one civilian and wounding 18. One person died and three were wounded in a bombing at an outdoor market in the town of Mahmoudiyah, 30km south of Baghdad.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures to AP. 

On Sunday, the UN mission in Iraq announced that May was the deadliest month so far this year, with 799 Iraqis killed in violence, including 603 civilians.

UNAMI also said that April’s death toll stood at 750, making it the second deadliest month this year.

Source: AP