24 killed, 87 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq

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24 killed, 87 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq

(Xinhua) 08:19, November 01, 2013

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BAGHDAD, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least 24 people were killed and 87 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq on Thursday, police said.

Two car bomb explosions in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala killed at least four people and injured 18 others, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred before sunset when two car bombs ripped through a busy car market in the town of Jadidat al-Shatt, some 30 km northwest of the provincial capital city of Baquba, which is about 65 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said.

The blasts set fire to several nearby cars prepared for sale at the scene, he added.

Also in Diyala province, three people were killed and eight others wounded when a car bomb exploded near a shop in eastern Muqdadiyah, 40 km northeast of Baquba, while a roadside bomb attack in the provincial capital city killed three people and injured six others, the source said.

Diyala province which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border has long been a volatile area since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite repeated military operations against the militant groups.

Earlier, the police said that up to 14 people were killed and some 55 others wounded in separate shootings and bombings across the country during the day.

The deadliest attack occurred in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, when up to seven people were killed and some 45 wounded in a coordinated suicide bombing and two car bomb attacks in the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 90 km east of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, which is about 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The first bombing occurred in the afternoon when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest at a busy marketplace in Askari district, and was followed by two car bomb explosions at the scene, the source said.

The ethnically mixed city of Tuz-Khurmato is part of the disputed areas claimed by the Kurds, the Arabs and the Turkomans. The Kurds want to incorporate the areas at the edges of their current Kurdistan region, which is fiercely opposed by the central government.

Also in the province, a policeman was killed in a roadside bomb explosion near his car in the town of Yathrib, some 80 km south of Tikrit, the source added.

Separately, a member of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group was shot dead by gunmen while leaving a shop in the town of Seniyah, some 30 km north of Tikrit, he said.

In northern Iraq, three soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in the western part of the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car carrying three off-duty soldiers in eastern Mosul, killing one of them and wounding two others, the source said.

In Diyala province, gunmen shot dead a farmer in his orchard in the town of Abu Sayda, some 90 km northeast of Baghdad, while a woman and two of her children were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their car in the nearby city of Maqdadiyah, a provincial police source said.

In addition, a policeman and his wife were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in front of their house in western Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, almost 6, 000 Iraqis were killed and over 14,000 others injured from January to September this year.