BAGHDAD, July 5: Eighteen people were killed in attacks around Iraq on Wednesday, including a car bomb in western Baghdad that killed six people and wounded 17, according to security officials.

The car bomb exploded outside a mosque in a public square in Washash neighborhood.

A bomb also exploded outside a restaurant in the Tayaran square, killing one person and wounding seven.

Also in central Baghdad, a bomb left in a shopping center exploded, wounding ten people.

In Mosul, a car packed with explosives slammed into a building at a police checkpoint, killing a police lieutenant and a civilian, and wounding three civilians and a policeman, while two police vehicles were set on fire.

On the road 40km south of Kirkuk, a bomb exploded as a car full of Kurdish peshmergas fighters passed, killing one and wounding two. When members of the civil defense showed up, a bomb detonated wounding three of them. Another Kurd was killed near Kirkuk when gunmen opened fire on his car.

Police in a village 90km south of Kirkuk reported finding the headless corpse of a man in the river Zab. In Tikrit, a shopowner was killed when gunmen opened fire on his store, while in Awja, a women was shot dead.

In Diyala, one civilian was killed by a car bomb in Baquba and another gunned down in the east of the city. Two others were shot dead in Khalis. Two corpses were found in the village of Khan Beni Saad. In Karbala police reported the shooting death of a former Baathist.—AFP