27 killed in violence across Iraq

At least 27 people were killed and as many injured in the violence witnessed in different parts of Iraq Thursday in the form of clashes and bomb attacks, police said.

Four policemen were killed and 11 wounded in Salahudin province when several roadside bombs detonated near their patrol on main road in Ishaqi area, some 110 km from Baghdad, Xinhua quoted a police soure as saying.

Separately, Sunni tribal fighters, backed by local police and army aircraft, fought back attacks by Sunni militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), an Al Qaeda offshoot, in Duluiyah town, some 90 km from Baghdad, leaving a policeman killed and three wounded while10 IS militants were killed, the source said.

An unidentified sniper shot dead four IS militants in al-Zuwiyah village near Baiji city, some 200 km from Baghdad, the source added.

An officer and a soldier were killed while three soldiers injured near Baghdad, where a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in Mashahda area, some 30 km from Baghdad, a police source said.

In Anbar province, a civilian was killed and three were wounded in artillery mortar shelling on the militant-seized Fallujah city, some 50 km from Baghdad, a medical source said.

Meanwhile, twelve mortar rounds struck Zankoura neighbourhood in Ramadi city, some 110 km from Baghdad, wounding six civilians including three women and damaging several houses, a provincial police source said.

In Diyala province, an army helicopter gunship pounded an insurgent position and killed at least three gunmen, a police source said. Also in the province, two civilians were killed and another wounded in two attacks in and near Maqdadiyah city, some 100 km from Baghdad.