27 killed, 71 hurt in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD - A series of attacks across Iraq left at least 27 people dead and 71 wounded Friday, according to security and government sources.

A car bomb attack killed 22 people and wounded 55 in the central Iraq town of Khales, police said.

The car was parked near a coffee shop in a popular market close to police barracks in the town, located some 60 km north of Baghdad.

Earlier, three members of a family were killed and a fourth injured when unknown gunmen, wearing military uniforms, stormed the family’s house east of the northern city of Baquba, a security source told the Aswat al-Iraq agency.

A policeman was injured when an explosive device targeting his patrol in Baquba went off, while one soldier was killed and six injured in two attacks in Tikrit, north-west of Baghdad, the Yaqen website reported.

In Mosul, meanwhile, gunmen killed a civilian in the al-Shefaa district west of the northern city.

In Baghdad, eight people were injured when an explosive device detonated on the side of the road, Yaqen added.

Although violence has fallen sharply in the past two years, after a sectarian conflict followed the 2003 US-led invasion, deadly blasts rip through the country routinely as politicians wrangle to form a government following contested results from the March 7 elections.