23 killed in violent attacks in Iraq

Baghdad – At least 23 people were killed and 95 others wounded in violent attacks in Iraq Saturday, including a massive bombing attack in a northern city, police said.

At least 12 people were killed and 72 others wounded when a suicide c! ar bomb and a roadside bomb went off near a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km north of Baghdad, Xinhua reported citing a police source.

A car bomb exploded Saturday evening near a police checkpoint in Tal Afar, about 420 km northwest of Baghdad, killing a policeman and two civilians and wounding two policemen and 18 civilians, the source added.

Earlier in the day, eight people were killed and three others wounded in separate violent attacks by gunmen in Iraq, police said.

A government employee was shot dead by gunmen who opened fire on his car while driving in Doura district in the southern part of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, according to a police source.

In a separate incident, a man was killed and his wife wounded when gunmen broke into their house in al-Risala district in southern Baghdad, the source said.

Gunmen shot dead a man near his house in New Baghdad district in the eastern part of the capital, while two government-backe! d Sahwa paramilitary group members were wounded in a separate attack by gunmen, the source added.

In northern Iraq, police force clashed with gunmen who tried to attack a house of a policeman in the town of Shora in south of the city Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, killing one of the attackers, a local police source said.

Separately, gunmen shot dead a teacher at a thoroughfare in central Mosul, the source added.

In Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a cleric of a Sunni mosque and his relative were shot dead when gunmen opened fire on their car near the provincial city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.

An employee working for Diyala’s government-owned university was shot dead by near his house near Baquba, the source added.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, almost 7,000 Iraqis were killed and over 16,000 others ! injured from January to October this year.