BAGHDAD: At least seven people were killed on Sunday in a series of attacks in Iraq, most of which were concentrated in areas north of the capital, officials said.

The latest unrest is part of a sustained surge in bloodshed that is Iraq’s worst since 2008, when it was emerging from a brutal sectarian war, and which has left more than 2,000 people dead already this year.

It has primarily been driven by anger in the minority Sunni Arab community, which alleges it is unfairly targeted by the Shia-led government and security forces, as well as spillover from the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

The deadliest of Sunday’s violence struck in the restive northern province of Nineveh, where three separate attacks killed four people, including two soldiers who were on patrol in the south of the province.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a roadside bomb in Tikrit, also north of Baghdad, killed two civilians, while a university professor was shot dead in the city of Kut, south of the capital.—AFP