Separate attacks in different areas of Iraq kill 11 people, wound 26 others, officials say

BAGHDAD – Gunmen and other attackers killed at least eleven people and wounded more than two dozen in separate attacks in Iraq on Sunday, officials said.

The deadliest attack was in Kazimiyah district in northern Baghdad, where militants in a speeding car went on shooting spree that killed three civilians and wounding another, two police officers said.

In the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb went off at a house early in the morning while a joint army-police unit was conducting door-to-door searches. The blast killed three policemen and one soldier, a provincial police officer said. Twenty people, including four civilians, were wounded.

Also in Mosul, police said militants gunned down a policeman in his car in the city center. Authorities also found a body floating in the Tigris river, shot at close range with hands bound behind the back. Mosul, some 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is a former stronghold of Sunni militants.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, the birthplace of the Sunni insurgency led by al-Qaida in Iraq, three soldiers were killed and five wounded in two separate attacks by roadside bombs on their patrols, police and army officers said.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to release information.

Insurgent attacks have decreased sharply in Iraq since the height of insurgency, but recent spikes in attacks amid months-old Sunni protests against the Shiite-led government have raised fears that sectarian killings could gain momentum across the country.