It was another day of bloodshed in Iraq on Friday as at least 14 people were killed and 23 were injured in separate attacks across Iraq mostly directed at security forces, dpa reported.
The worst of the violence, in the northern city of Mosul, saw six soldiers and one policeman die in a series of attacks that also left seven people injured, police said.
In Kirkuk, which lies 250 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, one child was killed and three civilians were injured when gunmen attacked a residential neighbourhood.
Also, three members of Sahwa, or Awakening Councils, were killed and three injured when gunmen attacked a Sahwa checkpoint in the centre of the mainly Sunni Arab town of Al-Sharqat, 280 kilometres north of Baghdad.
The Sahwa, made up of former Sunni insurgents, have been facing regular attacks for their role in supporting the government in its fight against al-Qaeda.
Security forces have increasingly been coming under attack from insurgents in recent months. The surge in violence coincides with a drop in the US military presence in Iraq, which has fallen to below 50,000 soldiers, its lowest level since the invasion of 2003. All combat soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
In Falluja city, some 60 kilometres west of Baghdad, one policeman was killed and 10 people - including three policemen - were injured in two consecutive blasts.
In the southern city of Hilla, meanwhile, two civilians were killed in a blast from an improvised explosive device attached to a vehicle selling gas cylinders in al-Mahaweel district.
There was some good news for ordinary Iraqis, however, as five members of al-Qaeda were arrested in two operations. They are suspected of being responsible for recent attacks in Kut, Ramadi and Falluaj that took place on Wednesday, leaving dozens dead.
Also, a senior leader in al-Qaeda and his aide were arrested in a desert area between Falluja and Saqalawiya cities, where police said they had seized equipments for making car bombs and documents allegedly revealing their links with other cells responsible for attacks in the nearby cities.
Aziz al-Amra, head of the Rapid Response Forces in Wasit, told the German Press Agency dpa that three other suspects arrested late on Thursday had since confessed to belonging to al-Qaeda and of being involved in a car bombing that targeted a police station in the city of Kut.
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