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Iraq attacks kill 5 a month before poll

A month before parliamentary polls, five people have been killed in violence in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq.

A Sunni fighter takes up position in Iraq
Attacks in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq have killed five people, a month before parliamentary polls. (AAP)

Attacks in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq have killed five people, exactly a month before parliamentary polls that remain in disarray after the mass resignations of election commissioners last week.

Sunday's violence came hours after seven soldiers were shot dead at a checkpoint in a late-night attack by militants in the north.

They were the latest sign of a months-long surge in bloodshed that has killed nearly 500 people this month.

The unrest has been driven principally by anger in the Sunni Arab minority over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities, as well as by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.

A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives on a major bridge in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad where security forces are grappling to retain full control after militants took over several neighbourhoods two months ago.

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The blast killed three people and wounded five, and also badly damaged the Hauz Bridge, a key crossing used by civilians connecting the north and south of the city.

Ramadi originally had five bridges across the Euphrates River before a militant surge earlier this year.

But two are used exclusively by security forces, and two others - including the Hauz Bridge - have been damaged to the point they can no longer be used.

Civilians in Ramadi are now able to use only the Albu Faraj bridge in the north of the city.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a predominantly Sunni desert region in west Iraq that shares a border with Syria.

In early January, anti-government fighters seized control of parts of the city as well as all nearby Fallujah, also in Anbar.

But while security forces have managed to take back most of Ramadi, a stalemate persists in Fallujah, which remains in militant control.

Elsewhere on Sunday, two police officers were killed by a roadside bomb that exploded near their car in Tikrit north of Baghdad. Like Ramadi, Tikrit's population is mostly Sunni Arabs.

The attacks came just hours after militants opened fire on an army checkpoint near the restive northern city of Mosul, killing seven soldiers in a late-night attack.

In Mosul city, gunmen also killed a doctor.


3 min read

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Updated

Source: AAP



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