Wave of attacks kills at least 44 in Iraq

9 Sep 2012, 9:46 pm   -   Source: AAP

A wave of attacks against government security forces on Sunday has resulted in the deaths of at least 44 people in Iraq.

Insurgents have killed at least 44 people in a wave of attacks against Iraqi security forces.

The insurgents gunned down soldiers at an army post and bombed police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said.

Sunday's violence, which struck at least 11 cities and resulted in about 240 people being wounded, highlighted militant attempts to sow havoc in the country and undermine the government.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but security forces are a frequent target of al-Qaida's Iraq branch, which has vowed to reassert itself and take back areas it was forced from before US troops began withdrawing from the country last year.

In Sunday's deadliest attack, gunmen stormed a small Iraqi Army outpost in the town of Dujail before dawn, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding eight more, according to police and hospital officials in the nearby city of Balad, about 80 kilometres north of Baghdad.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information.

Hours later, a car bomb struck a group of police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs with the state-run Northern Oil Co outside the northern city of Kirkuk.

Police said seven recruits were killed and 17 wounded.

All the recruits were Sunni Muslims and police blamed the early morning attack on al-Qaida.

The carnage even stretched into the country's south, where bombs stuck to two parked cars exploded in the Shi'ite-dominated city of Nasiriyah, 320km southeast of Baghdad.

The blasts were near the French consulate and a local hotel in the city, although the consulate did not appear to be a target of the attack.

Local deputy health director Dr Adnan al-Musharifawi said two people were killed and three were wounded at the hotel, and one Iraqi policeman was wounded at the consulate.

Al-Musharifawi said no French diplomats were among the casualties.

A string of smaller attacks on Sunday also struck nine other cities, including Baghdad, where roadside bombs killed a policeman and a passer-by, officials said.

The rest of the attacks were car bombs that hit cities stretching from the southern port city of Basra to the city of Tal Afar northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border.

The blast in Basra killed three people and wounded 24, while the bomb in Tal Afar killed two passers-by and wounded seven, officials said.

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