27 killed in attacks across Iraq

Baghdad, June 26 (IANS) At least 27 people were killed and 90 people were wounded in violent attacks across Iraq Wednesday, police and security source said.

Five people were killed and 17 got injured when a suicide bomber blew up himself near a checkpoint in the city of Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad.

In Ishaqi area of Salahudin, several mortar shells landed on the house of Ismail Khudair Hlob, first deputy governor of the Iraqi province, leaving seven people dead and 25 others wounded.

In a separate incident, three people were killed and two others injured in an attack on a wine shop in the Zayouna district in Baghdad.

Also in the capital, 12 people were killed and 46 wounded when mortar shells struck a popular market in the southern part of Baghdad, after a roadside bomb went off and a suicide bomber blew up himself.

Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.