Iraq violence kills at least 22 people

Attacks in Iraq, including a series of car bombs in Baghdad, killed at least 22 people Monday, officials said, as the country struggles with its worst violence in six years. In the deadliest attack, at least one car bomb exploded in the Urr neighbourhood of north Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 27. Another car bomb hit the Karrada district in the centre of the capital, killing at least seven people, wounding at least 29 and sending a cloud of smoke into the sky. And a car bomb detonated in Ghazaliyah in western Baghdad, killing at least one person and wounding at least four. A series of bombings and shootings in Nineveh province in northern Iraq -- one of the most dangerous parts of the country -- killed at least six civilians and security forces and wounded four. Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when it was emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Attacks and clashes have killed more than 460 people so far this month and over 1,450 since the start of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources. Source: AFP