SAMARRA: Gunmen launched an assault on a military base north of Baghdad early on Monday, killing at least seven Iraqi soldiers, security and medical officials said.

A medic at the main hospital in the nearby town of Balad said they had received the bodies of seven soldiers and were treating two others for wounds from the attack on the base in Albu Slaib, east of the town of Dhuluiyah, which lies 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Baghdad.

An Iraqi army first lieutenant put the toll at 15 dead and four wounded.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

The attack came a day after a spate of bombings across Iraq killed at least 17 people and wounded nearly 100 others in the worst violence to hit the country in nearly three weeks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but al Qaeda's front group in Iraq has warned in recent days that it seeks to retake territory in the country it once held.