BAGHDAD: Insurgents killed at least 12 people and wounded 44 in a series of bomb attacks across the Iraqi capital on Sunday, security officials said.

Nine people were killed and 30 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the northern district of Bab al-Muazzam which houses the health ministry, said Brigadier General Qasim Ata, spokesman for the Iraqi army in Baghdad. In another early morning attack, two people were killed and six others wounded when a roadside bomb struck a truck carrying blast walls in southeast Baghdad, security officials said.

The third attack was coordinated, with a roadside bomb exploding in Al-Waziriyah, killing one person, and a second exploding minutes later when Iraqi soldiers arrived at the scene.

Six soldiers were wounded in the second blast along with two civilians, the officials said.

The latest bomb attacks come two days after a Baghdad pet market was bombed with explosives hidden in a carton used by vendors to carry birds, killing 13 people.

The US military blamed the market bombing on Iranian-linked Shiite militants.

The attacks come despite a dip in violence across Iraq attributed to a “surge” of extra US troops, the suspension of activities by the Mahdi Army Shiite militia and rising number of Iraqis joining American troops in fighting Al Qaeda.—AFP