By DPA
Baghdad : A total of 19 people were killed and 45 wounded in two separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern Iraqi town of Tuz Khormato on Sunday.
In one incident, witnesses said at least 10 Iraqis were killed and 20 were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a crowded commercial street in the al-Mansour district of western Baghdad.
Initial police reports had said only two were killed.
Gunfire was also reported after the explosion and local news reports said a firefight between militants and police forces followed the blast.
However, witnesses at the scene claimed that the security personnel of a foreign company had fired their guns in a reflex reaction to the blast. Police sources could not be reached for comment.
In a separate incident, five Iraqis were killed and 22 were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a coffee shop in Tuz Khormato, police sources said.
Witnesses saw ambulances rushing to the scene of the attack in the Kurdish town, 180 km north of Baghdad, which has a mixed Shia and Sunni population.
Meanwhile, four Iraqis were gunned down, including a senior police officer and his son, in a village 30 km south of Hilla, a city of south of Baghdad. Three people were wounded in the attack.
Gunmen had reportedly attacked the police officer’s house and opened fire on its residents, an officer in Babel police department told the Voices of Iraq news agency.