BAGHDAD – Bombings across Iraq killed 23 people and wounded at least another 24 Monday, officials said — the latest apparent attacks by militants aimed at undermining security and confidence in the government.



The deadliest blasts were in the town of Musayyib some 60 km south of the capital, where militants planted bombs around two houses, one belonging to a police officer. Two women and two children aged 11 and 14 along with three men were killed, while three others were wounded in the pre-dawn blasts, a police officer said.



In the city of Hillah, a parked car bomb exploded in a busy street where local government offices are located, killing three people and wounding 21, another police officer said. Two doctors confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.



Also Monday, four policemen were killed in the northern city of Kirkuk while trying to defuse a bomb the center of the city, according to police Col. Taha Salaheddin. Kirkuk is 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.



And another a policeman was killed when a bomb hit a police convoy in the town of Tuz Khormato, 210 km north of Baghdad, said the provincial spokesman of Salahuddin province, Mohammed Al-Asi.



Although violence has ebbed since the height of the insurgency in the past, some groups presumed to be primarily extremists are still able to launch lethal attacks nationwide against government officials or civilians. – AFP