41 killed in bomb attacks and clashes across Iraq

Bomb attacks and clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants on Saturday left a total of 41 people killed and some 102 others injured in central and eastern Iraq, security sources said.

The deadliest attacks occurred in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin when three suicide car bombers backed by dozens of IS militants attacked positions of Iraqi army and allied Shiite militiamen in Sur-Shnas area near the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The attacks left at least 16 militiamen and soldiers killed and some 41 others wounded, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The huge blasts of the suicide car bombs and the following clashes also resulted in the killing of 11 IS militants, including the suicide bombers, the source said.

It added that it was not possible to discover the exact number of casualties among the extremist militants who fled the scene after they evacuated some of their deaths and wounded.

Separately, two members of Shiite militia, known as al-Hashed al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization, were killed by IS sniper near the town of Is'haqi, some 90 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

Salahudin, a predominantly Sunni province with its capital of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.

Large parts of the province have been under IS control since June 11, a day after bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS group, which took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, up to 11 people were killed and some 56 others wounded when two back-to-back car bombs ripped through a crowded popular market in the town of Baladruz, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Three policemen and a soldier were among the dead by the twin blasts which destroyed 11 shops and many stalls, along with setting seven civilian cars on fire, the source added.

The coordinated attacks in the province came despite the fact that Iraqi security forces announced they have freed the whole province of Diyala from the IS group after days of major offensive.

Hadi al-Ameri, a leading figure in the powerful Shiite party Badr Organization, said that "individuals from IS militants are now separately hiding in some orchards and hideouts, but they will be hunted down by the security forces."

Elsewhere, a civilian was killed and five others were wounded by army bombing on the small town of Shamiyah, just southwest of the militants-seized city of Fallujah, which located some 50 km west of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Iraq has been witnessing some of the worst violence in years. Terrorism and violence have killed at least 12,282 civilians and injured 23,126 others in 2014, making it the deadliest year since the sectarian violence in the 2006-2007 period, according to a recent UN report. Endit