Bombings and shootings kill 14 in Iraq

Bombings and shootings killed 14people in areas around the Iraqi capital , authorities said.
Police officials say gunmen sprayed an army checkpoint with bullets in Latifyah town, about 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding five others yesterday.
A mortar attack also killed one person and wounded seven others in Youssifiyah town, just south of Baghdad.
Also, two police officers were killed while trying to defuse a bomb in Jurf al-Sakhar, about 50 kilometres south of Baghdad.
Police said gunmen in a speeding car opened fire randomly on pedestrians in Madain town just southeast of Baghdad, killing two people.

At night, police said a roadside bomb explosion hit a military convoy near Tarmiyah town, 50 kilometres north of Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding five others.

Later on, a car bomb blast in a commercial street killed four people and wounded 17 others in Baghdad northeastern district of Shaab, said police.
Medical official confirmed the causalities. All spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release information.
Violence has surged in Iraq recently. According to the United Nations, 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year the country's highest death toll since the peak of sectarian bloodletting in 2007 and 2008.