Militant attacks kill 13 Iraqis, injure 46 others

At least 13 Iraqis were killed and over 46 injured in separate violent incidents across Iraq Sunday. Bombing attack on a funeral at Wajihiya district, of eastern Diyala Province, killed at least seven of the mourners and injured 40 others. In the northern Kirkuk Province, two policemen and two civilians were killed in two separate incidents. In the first incident unidentified gunmen opened fire on police patrol in Ryadh district west of Kirkuk, killing two policemen and wounding third. In the second incident gunmen attacked a man and his wife at their home killing the man and wounding his wife in the Naser area. In Baghdad, a policeman was shot dead by sniper while on duty at Cairo district northern of the Iraqi capital. In a separate incident, a civilian was killed and two others injured when roadside bomb went off at Abu Ghuraib district in Baghdad. Furthermore, a father of Industry Minister Ahmad Al-Karbouli was kidnapped at gunpoint by unidentified gunmen early Sunday west of Anbar Province. Gunmen killed the organizer of anti-government sit-in of Fallujah Sheikh Khaled Hammod Al-Jumaili while he was driving his car near the industry area, east of Fallujah. Jumaili's son was seriously injured in the attack. This year has been Iraq's most violent since 2006-07, when tens of thousands died in strife between Sunnis and Shiites. Hundreds of Iraqis were killed last month, figures from the United Nations and the Iraqi government showed on Sunday. The Iraqi government estimated the death tally of November violence at 950 (882 civilians, 52 policemen and 43 army personnel). It added that 1,349 were injured in the same months. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), however, estimated the number of causalities in November at 659 killed and another 1,373 wounded. It stated that some 565 civilians (including 120 civilian police) were killed last month, while some 1,186 persons (including 239 civilian police) were injured. A further 94 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 187 were injured. According to the UN, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 623 civilian casualties (224 killed, 399 injured), followed by Nineveh (107 killed, 224 injured), Salahuddin (88 killed, 230 injured), and Diyala (82 killed, 151 injured). Anbar, Kirkuk, Babil, and Wasit, also reported casualties (double digit figures). The entire figure of civilians killed between January and November 2013 is 7,157 in addition to 952 Iraqi Security Forces. Tension runs high among Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis in the past months as wave of bombing attacks have recently targeted worship places and worshippers of both sects. Tension is also festering between the government of Nuri Al-Maliki, a Shiite, and Iraqi Sunnis who accuse authorities of marginalizing and targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism.