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17 killed in separate attacks in Iraq

15 August 2013 04:05 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least 17 people were killed in separate violent attacks in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala and north of the capital Baghdad on Wednesday, police said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Eleven civilians were killed and 15 others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded Wednesday evening near some shops in al- Mafraq area, just west of Diyala province's capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

Earlier in the day, a judge and his driver were shot dead by gunmen after he left a court in the town of Siniyah, some 210 km north of Baghdad, another police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, Colonel Ahmed Abdul-Rahman, a traffic police officer, was killed when a bomb attached to his car detonated while he was driving his car at the entrance of the traffic police directorate in eastern Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua.

Elsewhere, a suspected al-Qaida leader was killed and one of his aides was arrested when Iraqi security forces conducted a security operation in Imam Wais area in northeast of Baquba, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Separately, Iraqi security forces killed two gunmen and captured eight others in a pre-dawn security operation in al- Udhaim area, some 60 km north of Baquba, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to a full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq recently reported that over 1,000 Iraqis were killed and more than 2,300 wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in July, the deadliest month in more than five years.

lign:sï¿½.;iï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½o;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-spacing:0px'>"The data also supports, in my view, the fundamentals of our crisis response: a policy mix where building a stability culture and pursuing structural reforms supportive of growth and jobs go hand in hand," said Rehn.

The commissioner sounded a warning saying "there are still substantial obstacles to overcome" and "still a very long way to go."

"The growth figures remain low and the tentative signs of growth are still fragile; the averages hide important differences between member states, a number of member states still have unacceptably high unemployment rates; and the implementation of essential but difficult reforms across the EU is still in its early stages," he added.

"A sustained recovery is now within reach, but only if we persevere on all fronts of our crisis response," Rehn said.

He urged member states to "keep up the pace of economic reform, regain control over our debt, both public and private, and build the pillars of a genuine economic and monetary union."