Beijing - XINHUA
At least 46 people were killed and 103 others wounded in car bomb attacks and clashes in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh on Friday, police said.
Seven people were killed and 46 others injured when two car bombs exploded in the village of Tehraoh near Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua.
The blasts also destroyed several houses in the village of the Shabak ethnic minority group, the source said.
In western Mosul, 14 members of Iraqi security forces were killed and 42 others wounded in clashes with militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, the police source said, adding that at least 20 militants were killed in the clashes.
Five civilians were also killed and 15 others wounded in mortar attacks on some neighborhoods in western Mosul, the source said.
Iraq is witnessing some of its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.