2 killed, 24 wounded in attacks in Iraq

Two people were killed and 24 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, police said. In the Iraqi capital, a car bomb went off at al-Nahdha district in downtown Baghdad, wounding 11 people and damaging several nearby cars and buildings, a police source told Xinhua. In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group near the city of Dujail, some 60 km north of Baghdad, killing a group member and wounding four others, a local police source said. In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, three roadside bombs struck a convoy of counter-terrorism force on a main road near the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, wounding nine commandos and damaging two vehicles, a provincial police source told Xinhua. In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, gunmen shot dead a cleric of a Sunni mosque, Ismail Khalifah, in front of his house in the town of Wajihiyah near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said. 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, which is the highest annual death toll for years.