BAGHDAD: Bombings and a shooting in Iraq killed three people, including a senior transport ministry official, and wounded 12 on Wednesday, security and medical officials said.

“A high-ranking official in the transport ministry was assassinated by unknown gunmen armed with silenced weapons” in the west of the capital, Operations Command spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakil told AFP.

He said security forces later killed three of the gunmen.

North of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a patrol killed one soldier and wounded two more near the city of Baquba, an army lieutenant colonel and a medical source said.

South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a tribal leader's vehicle killed one person and wounded three in the town of Suwayrah, a security official said. A medical source confirmed the casualties.

And near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, a car bomb wounded seven people, among them three police and a soldier, police and a medical source said.

Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but deadly attacks remain common.