Iraq attacks kill 12, injure dozens

At least twelve people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a series of attacks across Iraq, security and hospital officials say.

Iraqi police officials said on Thursday that four people lost their lives and eight others suffered injuries after a bomb went off inside a café in Husseiniya, northeast of the country’s capital Baghdad.

Elsewhere, a bomb detonated in Baghdad’s southern district of Dora, killing two people and wounding five other civilians.

Three more people were killed and nine others injured after a roadside bomb went off near a market in the town of Yusufiya, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the capital.

Iraqi police also reported that two soldiers were killed and five others, including three civilians, were wounded after a bomb detonated near a security checkpoint in northeastern Baghdad.

In the town of Madian, south of the Iraqi capital, an unidentified gunman opened fire on people in the street, killing one person and injuring four others.

Iraqi medical officials also confirmed the casualties.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence unprecedented in recent years.

Official figures show that more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,400 others injured in violent attacks across Iraq in April.

The United Nations says nearly 9,000 people were killed in 2013.

Takfiri groups, including the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), are reportedly coming to Iraq from neighboring Syria and Saudi Arabia to undermine security in the country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.