Insurgent attacks in Iraq kill at least 41

Insurgents bent on destabilising Iraq killed at least 41 people in numerous attacks scattered around the country today, striking targets as varied as a coffee shop, a wedding party convoy and a carload of off-duty soldiers.
The attacks are part of a months-long wave of killing that is the country's worst spate of bloodshed since 2008.
The violence is calling into question the security forces' ability to protect the country and raising fears that Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divisions are pushing it back toward the brink of civil war.
One of the day's boldest attacks happened near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where militants set up a fake security checkpoint, captured five soldiers and shot them dead, a police officer said.

The soldiers were dressed in civilian clothes and returning to base in a taxi.
Inside Mosul, other gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a grocer, he said, though the motive was not immediately clear. The grocer was a member of the Shabak ethnic group, which has its own distinct language and religious beliefs.

Mosul, a former insurgent stronghold, is about 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Another police officer said a car bomb exploded as a judge drove past in the northern town of Balad, killing three nurses and a man who had been walking nearby.
Thirteen other people were wounded, including the judge, his brother and a driver, he added.

Attacks have been on the rise in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown in April on a Sunni protest camp. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence during the past few months, raising fears the country could see an even deadlier, sectarian round of bloodshed similar to what brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.
Many of today's victims were civilians going about their normal business despite the rising risks.
In the town of Madain, about 25 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, a car bomb explosion killed four and wounded 12, another police officer said.