Militant attacks kill 16 in central Iraq

Attacks in central Iraq, including two suicide car bombings aimed at checkpoints, killed 16 people on Monday, security and medical officials said.

The latest violence came as Iraq suffers a protracted surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,700 people so far this year.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle rigged with explosives at a police checkpoint in the Suweirah area, south of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 35, an officer and a medical source said.

Another suicide car bombing targeted a checkpoint in Madain, killing at least two people and wounding five, while gunmen shot dead one person and wounded at least one other in Latifiyah, officials said.

The attacks came a day after violence in Iraq, including a suicide bombing at Imam Kadhim University in Baghdad, killed at least 16 people.

UN Iraq envoy Nickolay Mladenov on Monday condemned the attack on the university, which is run by the Shiite religious endowment, as an attempt to stoke sectarianism.

"This is yet another example of sectarian-based violence that the people of this country need to fight in order to bring this country to tranquility, and it is happening at a time when the Iraqi people are preparing to go to the polls in a few days," Mladenov said in a statement.

"The target has been selected to incite sectarian hatred."

On April 30, Iraqis will vote in the first parliamentary election since American forces quit the country in 2011, which will be a major test for security forces.

While they were able to keep violence to a minimum during provincial polls last year, security forces have failed to halt a surge of unrest this year.

Violence has killed more than 490 people in Iraq so far this month, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

The heightened violence has been driven principally by widespread anger among the Sunni Arab minority, who say they are mistreated by the Shiite-led government and security forces.

It has also been fuelled by the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has bolstered militant groups.

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