11 killed in attacks in Iraq

Eleven people were killed and 21 others wounded Wednesday in separate shooting and bombing incidents in Iraq, police said.

The deadliest attack occurred in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a police station in al-Salam town near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of here, killing five people and wounding at least 12 others, a police source told Xinhua.

The huge blast destroyed part of the police station and nearby buildings, the source said, adding that many of the dead and wounded are policemen.

Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has long been a volatile area since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite repeated military operations against the militant groups.

In northern Iraq, two civilians were shot dead by gunmen in two separate attacks in the Mosul city, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

In a separate incident, a police officer was killed when a roadside bomb struck his car in Qaiyara city, some 50 km south of Mousl, the source said.

In Baghdad, a civilian was killed and six others were wounded when a bomb ripped through an outdoor market in Sab al-Bour district in the northern part of the capital.

A policeman was critically wounded by a sniper shot while manning a checkpoint in Baghdad's eastern district of Sadr City, a police official said.

Near Baghdad, two government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group members were killed and two wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their car in Abu Ghraib area, some 25 km west of the capital, a police source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, around 7,000 Iraqis were killed and over 16,000 others injured from January to October this year.