17 killed in Iraq attacks

At least 17 people were killed and 53 others wounded in violent attacks in Iraq Saturday, including a massive bombing attack in a northern city, police said.

Nine people were killed and 50 others wounded when a suicide car bomb and a roadside bomb went off near a Shiite mosque in Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km north of Baghdad, Xinhua reported citing a police source.

Earlier in the day, eight people were killed and three others wounded in separate violent attacks by gunmen, police said.

A government employee was shot dead by gunmen who opened fire on his car while driving in Doura district in the southern part of the Iraqi capital, a police source said.

In a separate incident, a man was killed and his wife wounded when gunmen broke into their house in al-Risala district in southern Baghdad, the source said.

Gunmen shot dead a man near his house in New Baghdad district in the eastern part of the capital, while two government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group members were wounded in a separate attack by gunmen, the source added.

In northern Iraq, police force clashed with gunmen who tried to attack a house of a policeman in the town of Shora in south of the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, killing one of the attackers, a local police source said.

Separately, gunmen shot dead a teacher at a thoroughfare in central Mosul, the source added.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a cleric of a Sunni mosque and his relative were shot dead when gunmen opened fire on their car near the provincial city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.

An employee working for Diyala's government-owned university was shot dead near his house near Baquba, the source added.

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