Four killed in Iraq attacks

Attacks north of Baghdad on Saturday killed four people, including three soldiers who died in a bombing, security and medical officials said.

In the deadliest attack, a roadside bomb against an Iraqi army patrol in the town of Badush, just outside the main northern city of Mosul, killed three soldiers, police First Lieutenant Salam al-Juburi said.

A bomb attack and a shooting in the town of Abu Saidah, in restive central Diyala province, left one labourer dead and five people, including a soldier, wounded.

In the shooting, gunmen opened fire on a truck carrying workers, killing one and wounding four others, according to a police major and Ahmed Ibrahim, a doctor at the main hospital in the provincial capital Diyala.

A separate roadside bomb exploded close to a passing Iraqi army patrol, leaving one soldier wounded, the major and a medic said.

Two more roadside bombs near the home of a Kurdish family in Jalawla, also in Diyala, left two young men wounded, they said.

Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Diyala and Mosul. A total of 126 Iraqis were killed in violence in April, according to official figures.