22 killed in Iraq violence

KARBALA/MOSUL - Two attacks Wednesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul left at least six people dead, including a young girl, and wounded several others.

According to security officials in the city, some 400 km from the capital Baghdad, a police patrol came under attack, killing a senior figure, identified as a captain in the force, and two other officers.

A young girl was also killed in the hail of gunfire and her father was seriously wounded.

Separately, a grenade was thrown at a military checkpoint, killing two civilians and wounding three soldiers.

Mosul is among the most ethnically diverse and dangerous regions of Iraq. Insurgents continue to mount near-daily attacks in the area, despite security crackdown.

Earlier, police said rockets launched by militants killed 16 people in the Shia holy city of Karbala, and injured another 22 people.

The rocket attacks late Tuesday went off near the offices of the Department of Immigration.

Hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims have gathered to mark the anniversary of the birth of a revered 9th century leader known as Imam al-Mahdi in Karbala.

Some 30,000 troops and police forces were deployed in the city, 118 km south of the capital, though attacks in Karbala Monday left at least 35 people dead.

Since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, such gatherings in the Shia holy city have taken on additional meanings as shows of strength and are frequently targeted in sectarian violence.