By IANS,
Baghdad : At least 19 people were killed and as many wounded in violent attacks across Iraq, police said Sunday.
Two people were killed and seven wounded when a car bomb went off at a marketplace in Baghdad’s Sadr City, Xinhua quoted a police source as saying while requesting for anonymity.
Another car bomb struck an army patrol in Mahmoudiyah town, some 30 km from Baghdad, leaving a soldier killed and three wounded, the source said.
Three passers-by were also wounded by the blast which damaged several nearby shops and buildings, the source added.
In Iraq’s Diyala province, three civilians were killed, including a child, while five suffered injuries when three roadside bombs exploded in the early hours of the day in al-Gatoon district in Baquba city, some 65 km from Baghdad, a provincial police source said.
Separately, the police found two bodies of civilians shot in their heads and dumped near a river in the eastern part of Baquba city, the source said.
Also in the province, gunmen opened fire on a car carrying a leading figure of a Shiite militia named Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and his aide near Baquba, leaving him critically wounded and killing his aide, the source added.
Earlier in the day, a police source said six policemen and four anti-Qaeda militiamen were killed by gunmen in two incidents.
In one of the attacks, gunmen stormed a police checkpoint and shot dead six policemen outside a village near Tuz-Khurmato city, some 90 km from Tikrit city.
According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.