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Iraqi residents stand next to a damaged vehicle at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad. — File Photo by AFP

BAGHDAD: A wave of attacks in Baghdad and north of the Iraqi capital killed at least 17 people and wounded 168 others on Wednesday, security and medical officials said.

The deadliest attack struck in the ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk where a car bomb detonated by a suicide attacker killed at least 10 people and wounded 140 others, according to provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul.

Another suicide car bombing in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, meanwhile, killed two people and wounded 26 others, officials said, while three separate attacks in Baghdad left five people dead.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The latest attacks come a day after the killing of a Sunni Iraqi MP in a suicide attack west of Baghdad, with Ayfan al-Essawi's funeral expected to be held in Fallujah later on Wednesday.

The violence comes amid a political crisis that has pitted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his erstwhile government partners just months ahead of key provincial elections.

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