Iraq attacks kill 12, wound dozens

BAGHDAD - Agence France-Presse

An Iraqi soldier and people inspect the damage of a house caused by a bomb attack in Baghdad's southeastern suburb of Wahda, Iraq, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. AP Photo

A series of attacks in the Iraqi capital and to its north killed at least 12 people and wounded 47 on Thursday, security and medical officials said.
 
A car bomb in a popular Baghdad market killed eight people and wounded 30, while another killed two people and wounded 15 in Taji, 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the capital, the officials said.
 
Further north, in the city of Samarra, gunmen killed two anti-Qaeda militiamen and wounded two more at a roadblock, the officials added.
 
Thursday's deaths brought to at least 199 the number of people killed in Iraq since June 13 -- more than were killed in all of May.
 
Attacks on June 13, which killed 72 people across the country, were later claimed by Al-Qaeda's front group, the Islamic State of Iraq.
 
Two car bombs targeting Shiites commemorating the death of a revered imam killed 32 people in the capital on June 16.
 
Two days later, a suicide bomber killed 22 people in an attack on Shiite mourners in Baquba, north of Baghdad.
 
On Wednesday, three bombings killed 11 people, security and medical officials said.
 
Violence has declined significantly since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing 132 people in May, government figures show.