Bombings kill 16 in Baghdad province

A series of bombings in and around the Iraqi capital have killed at least 16 people, security and medical officials say.
The blasts, which hit five different areas on Sunday, also wounded at least 39 others, the sources said.
The deadliest attack was a car bomb that exploded in the Bayaa area of west Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 15, AFP reported.
The bombings came a day after attacks in Iraq killed 16 people, nine of whom were shot dead at alcohol shops in Baghdad.
With the latest attacks, the death toll for the first eight days of this month has already surpassed that for the entire month of December last year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
Violence in Iraq has reached a level this year not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal period of rampant sectarian killings.
The government has made some concessions aimed at placating Sunni Arabs, including freeing prisoners and raising the salaries of anti-al-Qaeda fighters, and has also launched security operations against militants.
But daily attacks have shown no sign of abating, and violence has killed almost 6,300 people since the beginning of the year, AFP figures show.