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Iraq attacks kill 21, injure dozens: Official

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 4, 2014 5:59PM

At least 21 people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of attacks across Iraq, security and hospital officials say.

Kirkuk Provincial Health chief Sabah Mohammed said that eight people lost their lives and nine others sustained injuries after two vehicles rigged with explosives detonated in the northern Iraqi city on Wednesday.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, militants are often blamed for such attacks in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Meanwhile, in the capital Bagdad, a car bomb killed four people in a shopping area, while separate attacks in different districts left two others dead.

On Baghdad's northern outskirts, a roadside bomb also killed two policemen.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, a truck bomb went off and killed two people in the town of Suleiman Bek.

Also, a policeman was killed after approaching a corpse that had been booby-trapped with explosives in the nearby town of Tuz Khurmatu.

In the adjoining province of Salaheddin, two separate bombings killed a policeman and a soldier.

The violent attacks came a day after dozens of people were killed in separate attacks across the country, including clashes between soldiers of the Iraqi army and Takfiri militants in the city of Fallujah where 18 died and 43 others were wounded.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence unprecedented in recent years.

Official figures show that more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,400 others injured in violent attacks across Iraq in April.

The United Nations says nearly 9,000 people were killed in 2013.

Takfiri groups, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), are reportedly coming to Iraq from neighboring Syria and Saudi Arabia to undermine security in the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.

GMA/AB