BAGHDAD — Attacks across Iraq killed nine people on Monday, including a 10-year-old boy out swimming with friends, the latest in a surge of violence rocking Iraq during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



Violence in Iraq is now at its deadliest level in half a decade, raising fears the country is returning to the widespread bloodshed that pushed the country to the edge of civil war. More than 2,800 people have been killed since the start of April. Police said Monday’s deadliest attack was a mortar barrage near a group of people trying to escape the blistering summer heat by swimming in the Tigris River near Samarra, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.



Four people were killed in the mortar shelling, including the boy, and 11 others were wounded, according to police.



Temperatures in Baghdad soared above 45 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).



In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb went off near a passing security patrol, killing a policeman and wounding 11 other people, including four civilians.– AP