Dozens dead in continuing Iraq violence
At least 46 people, including six soldiers, killed in car bombs across strife-torn country.
Car bombs, roadside bombs and shootings have killed at least 46 people in Iraq, police and medical sources said.
Sunday’s violence was reported in predominantly Sunni Arab areas to the north of capital Baghdad.
The single deadliest attack took place in central Baquba where a car bomb killed 11 people, police said.
Another five people were killed and 21 others injured in an explsion in the province of Salahediin.
In the volatile Nineveh province, gunmen opened fire on a van ferrying soldiers from Baghdad to their unit in the provincial capital Mosul, killing five of them, an army official and a doctor said.
Also in Nineveh, three separate attacks by gunmen left a soldier and two civilians dead, including a member of the Shabak minority.
The 30,000-strong Shabak community mostly lives near Iraq’s border with Turkey. They speak a distinct language and largely follow a faith that is a blend of Shiite Islam and local beliefs. Shabaks are frequently targeted in attacks by fighters.
Violence has markedly increased in Iraq this year. Attacks have killed more than 3,600 people since the beginning of 2013, according to figures compiled by AFP. The United Nations says more than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008.
On Friday, a suicide bomber killed 25 people and wounded more than 50 in Baghdad when he detonated his explosives inside a busy cafe near a park.