17 killed in car bomb attacks, clashes in Iraq

At least 17 security members were killed and 30 others wounded on Wednesday in attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants targeting security forces in the city of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's Anbar province, a security source said.

The attacks started in the morning when seven car bombs detonated at checkpoints and military bases in the government-held areas in the city, located about 110 km west of Baghdad, Xinhua quoted the source as saying.

The attacks were followed by heavy clashes in al-Houz district which is adjacent to the government compound, and three others districts in the centre of the partially IS-held city.

The toll could rise as the source cited initial medical report which said the city's hospital has received 17 bodies of the security members and 30 others were admitted for treatment.

The Sunni radical group has seized around 80 percent of Iraq's largest province Anbar and has been trying to advance towards Baghdad, but several counter-attacks by security forces and Shia militias have pushed them back.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 10 last year after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS.

The IS took control of the country's northern province of Nineveh, and then seized swathes of territory after the Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in other predominantly Sunni provinces.