14 killed, 83 wounded in Iraq's violence

At least 14 people were killed and 83 others wounded on Tuesday in violent attacks across Iraq, including a wave of car bombs in central the country, police said. The deadliest attacks occurred in the central province of Babil when seven people were killed and 43 others wounded in four car bomb explosions in the provincial capital city of Hilla and the towns of Mussayab, Iskandiyah and Mahawil to its north, a local police source told Xinhua. In Baghdad, a booby-trapped car detonated in Baiyaa district in the southern part of the capital, leaving a civilian killed and 10 others wounded, a police source told Xinhua. Another car bomb went off in an industrial area in southwestern Baghdad, wounding four people and damaging several shops and civilian cars, while two more people were wounded when another car bomb ripped through Amil district in southern Baghdad, the source said. Elsewhere, an official from the main hospital in Fallujah told Xinhua that his hospital received two bodies and 12 wounded people by the artillery and mortar bombardment on the city during the day. Sporadic clashes between the army and anti-government tribal fighters erupted in the early morning hours in northeastern Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, which has been under weeks- long siege, a security source said, without giving further details. Meanwhile, a car bomb went off near a convoy of a police officer in the city of Haditha, some 200 km west of Baghdad, wounding the officer, two of his bodyguards and five passersby, a local police source told Xinhua. Anbar province, which includes Fallujah and the provincial capital city of Ramadi, has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in late December last year. In Iraq's eastern provincial of Diyala, General Abdul Amir al- Zaiydi, Commander of Dijla Operations Command, said in the statement by his office that his troops foiled an attempt by al- Qaida militants to seize a village near the city of Sa'diyah, some 120 km northeast of Baghdad, after fierce clashes. The clashes resulted in the killing of three militants and the capture of seven others, after the militants fled the scene to the nearby hills, said Zaiydi whose command is responsible for the security in the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin and Kirkuk. Also in the province, a civilian was killed and another wounded by gunmen who attacked their house near Sa'diyah, a provincial police source said. In northern Iraq, a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in the center of the city, some 250 km north of Baghdad, leaving three policemen wounded, a local police source said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were allegedly responsible for such massive attacks in the country, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence. Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.