BAGHDAD — Violence in Iraq killed 34 people Sunday, including eight who died in clashes and helicopter fire west of Baghdad and more than a dozen in car bombs in the capital.
The bloodshed is the latest in a months-long surge of unrest, with more than 6,800 people killed last year and over 400 dead already this month, which comes ahead of April general elections.
Militants attacked Iraqi soldiers in the Abu Ghraib area west of the capital, after which at least one helicopter opened fire.
The violence killed at least eight people and wounded 17, but accounts of the incident differed.
One security official said all of the dead and wounded were civilians killed by helicopter fire, while a second said the casualties may also include militants, and that the toll was for the entire engagement.
A medical official said the majority of the dead and wounded were civilians, but that soldiers were also killed.
In the Allawi area of Baghdad itself, a car bomb targeting army recruits gathered at a taxi and bus station killed nine people and wounded at least 17.
The attack followed a suicide bombing targeting army recruits in the capital on Thursday that killed 23 people.
Militants opposed to the Iraqi government frequently target security forces with bombings and shootings.
In the Kadhimiyah area of Baghdad, another car bomb exploded in a main square, killing five people and wounding 16, while a roadside bomb in the Mansur area killed one person and wounded at least four.
And south of Baghdad in the town of Latifiyah, security forces killed two militants and arrested two-dozen others.
Violence also hit areas north of the Iraqi capital on Sunday.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, killing five people and wounding 36, an official said.
In Tikrit, gunmen killed a major in the SWAT forces and his guard, while gunmen in Mosul killed a tribal leader and a cleric, both of whom had backed anti-government protesters.
And a cameraman and his driver were wounded in Mosul by a magnetic “sticky bomb” attached to their car, the latest in a series of attacks on journalists in Mosul.
Five journalists were killed in the last three months of 2013 in Mosul, a mostly Sunni Arab city that remains one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq, with militants frequently carrying out attacks and reportedly extorting money from shopkeepers.
Iraq has come in for repeated criticism over shortcomings in media freedom, and ranks first in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index, which tracks unsolved murders of journalists.
Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings.
More than 440 people have been killed in fighting and attacks so far this month, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
