18 killed in violent attacks in Iraq

At least 18 people were killed and 34 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq Saturday, police said.

Nine people were killed and six others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at some alcohol shops in Waziriya district in central Baghdad Saturday evening, Xinhua reported citing a police source.

One civilian was killed and four others were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in a popular market in Dora district in southern Baghdad, he added.

Earlier in the day, eight people were killed and 24 others wounded in separate bombings and shootings across the country, police said.

In northern Iraq, three people were killed and 10 wounded in a roadside bomb explosion at a busy vegetable market in the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a police source said.

Near Baghdad, a civilian was killed and nine others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Mashahda town, some 40 km north of Baghdad, a police source said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, a sniper shot dead a policeman at a checkpoint in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad.

In a separate incident, a policeman was killed and another wounded when gunmen opened fire on them at a checkpoint in Ramadi.

In eastern Iraq, two civilians were killed in separate attacks by gunmen near Diyala's provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.

Also in the province, a roadside bomb struck the car of a member of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group at a village near Baquba, wounding the Sahwa member and his relative who was with him in the car, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of attacks in recent years, which raised fears that terrorist groups and militias could plunge the country into uncontrollable sectarian violence.