Bombings, shootings kill 14 in Iraq

BAGHDAD – Bombings and shootings killed 14people in areas around the Iraqi capital on Monday, authorities said.

Police officials say gunmen sprayed an army checkpoint with bullets in Latifyah town, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding five others.

A mortar attack also killed one person and wounded seven others in Youssifiyah town, just south of Baghdad.

Also, two police officers were killed while trying to defuse a bomb in Jurf al-Sakhar, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Police said gunmen in a speeding car opened fire randomly on pedestrians in Madain town just southeast of Baghdad, killing two people.

At night, police said a roadside bomb explosion hit a military convoy near Tarmiyah town, 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding five others.

Later on, a car bomb blast in a commercial street killed four people and wounded 17 others in Baghdad northeastern district of Shaab, said police.

Medical official confirmed the causalities. All spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Violence has surged in Iraq recently. According to the United Nations, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year — the country's highest death toll since the peak of sectarian bloodletting in 2007 and 2008.