66 killed in attacks across Iraq

 A total of 66 people were killed in violent attacks and battles between insurgents and Iraqi security forces in the provinces of Anbar and Diyala, security sources said on Sunday.In Iraq’s western province of Anbar, an Iraqi commando force fought fierce clash with gunmen in al-Sijar area in the northern part of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 33 militants killed, a provincial police source sai. The army’s artillery pounded the industrial district in Fallujah, killing three militants and injuring two others, the source said.Separately, gunmen shot dead a member of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group in Abu Ghraib area, some 25 km west of Baghdad, the source added.Anbar province 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. 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.