Two killed, 29 wounded in Iraq attacks

Two people were killed and 29 others wounded in bombings and shootings across Iraq Saturday, local police said.

In Kirkuk, a civilian was killed and 15 people were wounded when two roadside bombs went off at a marketplace in the southern city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Six policemen and three Kurdish security members, locally named Asaiysh, were among the wounded, the source said.

In a separate incident, two roadside bombs detonated near a restaurant in Kirkuk, wounding 11 people, including four policemen and three Kurdish Asaiysh, the source added.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, Saif Talal, a reporter of al-Sharqiyah satellite channel, was critically wounded when gunmen attacked his private car near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

According to Muaiyad al-Lami, head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, more than 390 journalists have been killed in Iraq since 2003, and up to 17 were killed in 2013, the highest toll since 2008.

Also in the province, the police found the body of a man in his 40s who was shot in the head and chest near Baquba, the source said.

In addition, a policeman and a farmer were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in the town of al-Abara, some 20 km northeast of Baquba, the source added.

Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll for years.