Iraq attacks kill at least 13

Baghdad: Bombings and shootings killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 50 across Iraq on Friday, security and medical officials said in a month that has seen at least 220 people killed in violence nationwide.

Two motorcycles rigged with explosives exploded at the same time in two markets and a third went off near a police station in Balad north of Baghdad late on Friday, police said.

Mohammad Radhi, a member of the Salaheddin provincial council, said seven people were killed and 50 wounded in the blasts.

A medical source at Balad hospital confirmed the toll, saying that some of the wounded were moved to Baghdad, some 70 kilometres south because their injuries were so serious.

Earlier, gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Khan Bani Saad south of the city of Baqouba, killing four Sahwa militiamen and wounding four, a militia commander said, adding that the assailants escaped.

A roadside bomb targeting a patrol in Baqouba itself killed one soldier and wounded another, an army major said.

Dr Ahmad Ebrahim of Baquba General Hospital confirmed the tolls.

And gunmen armed with automatic weapons opened fire on a civilian car north of Baqouba, killing the driver, police said.

Friday’s deaths brought the number of people killed in attacks since June 13 to at least 220 - an average of almost 13 per day. That is a far higher toll than the 132 official figures show were killed in May.

Much of the violence has occurred in and around Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province north of Baghdad.