10 killed, 42 wounded separate bombings in Iraq

Ten people were killed and 42 others wounded in separate bombings and shootings across Iraq Tuesday evening, while an al-Qaida group claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks that caused heavy casualties the day before, the police said.

Five people were killed and 16 wounded in a bomb explosion at a popular shop in the western part of Diyala's provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, a bomb went off during the sunset prayer at Siyd Mahdi Shiite mosque in the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 170 km north of Baghdad, killing three worshippers and wounding 12 more, a local police source said.

Elsewhere, a policeman was gunned down by armed men in front of his house in the eastern part of the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, said another local police source.

A civilian was killed and three others, including two soldiers, were wounded when a roadside bomb struck an army patrol in the northwestern part of Mosul, while four soldiers were wounded in another roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in the north of the city, the source said.

Separately, a shop owner was killed by gunmen using assault rifles in northern Fallujah, a city some 50 km west of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Also in Fallujah, a gunman using silenced weapon shot dead another shop owner in the city center, the source added.

In Baghdad, a civilian was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb explosion at a marketplace in al-Furat district, a police source said, adding that six others were wounded in two roadside bomb explosions in western and northwestern Baghdad.

Earlier in the day, the police said six people had been killed and nine wounded in separate attacks in central and northern Iraq.

Tuesday's attacks came a day after an al-Qaida militant group claimed responsibility for a wave of violence that killed some 63 people and wounded more than 200 others across the country.

On Monday, a series of attacks, including 17 car bombings, mainly targeted Shiite districts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities amid growing tension between the Sunnis and the Shiite-dominated government.

"The men of the Islamic state began their first qualitative operations in Iraq as part of the plan 'Warriors' Harvest' after they ended the previous plan 'Breaking the Walls'," a statement posted on a Jihadist website said.