Wave of attacks rattles Iraq

BAGHDAD - A fresh wave of attacks rattled war-ravaged Iraq on Sunday when the nation has been witnessing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, killing nearly 30 people and injuring scores of others.

Three bombs exploded in the capital Baghdad late on Sunday, killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 60 others, an interior ministry source said.

The official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity Xinhua that the attacks, taking place at a crowded market, also caused damage to nearby shops, vehicles and residence buildings.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the incidents and investigations are underway, said the official.

As many of the injured are under serious situation, the death toll might rise later, he said.

Elsewhere, two terror attacks in Iraq's eastern Diyala province killed five people and injured three others on Sunday, the local police said.

The police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity via phone that the first attack occurred near a checkpoint, some 60 km off Baquba, capital city of Diyala province, when a roadside bombing killed three Iraqi army personnel, including an officer, and injured two others.

In a separate attack, two policemen were killed and a third wounded in an armed attack on a checkpoint some 70 km off Baquba.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for both incidents and investigations are underway, said the police source.

Earlier on Sunday, at least five people were killed and 14 wounded in a car bomb explosion in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred in the morning when a booby-trapped car went off outside a popular restaurant in central Najaf, some 160 km south of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The powerful blast destroyed parts of the restaurant and badly damaged several nearby shops and other buildings, the source said.

On the same day, a car bomb attack occurred near a police office in Mosul city in the country's northern part, killing one police personnel and injuring 10 others, including several policemen.

Violence in Iraq has ebbed from its climax in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but tensions and sporadic attacks are still common across the country. ?

Al-Qaida's Iraqi branch on Sunday announced online that the terror group has been planning more attacks in Iraq.