Iraq attacks kill 23 as year's toll tops 6,200

Attacks mostly targeting Sunni Arab areas of Baghdad as well as northern and western Iraq killed at least 23 people today, the latest in a months-long surge in bloodletting.
The rise in violence, which has killed more than 6,200 people this year, has prompted the authorities to appeal for international help in combating militancy ahead of general elections due in April.
Officials have blamed a resurgent al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria, but the government has itself faced criticism for not doing enough to address the concerns of Iraq's disaffected Sunni Arab minority.
Shootings and bombings today hit west Baghdad, as well as the predominantly Sunni cities of Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, Baquba, Tikrit, Samarra, Mosul and Tarmiyah.

In the deadliest attack, twin roadside bombs exploded near municipal offices in Tarmiyah, a town just north of Baghdad that has seen multiple deadly attacks in recent weeks.
When onlookers gathered at the scene, two suicide bombers blew themselves up. Militants in Iraq often carry out delayed attacks targeting first responders who rush to the scene of an initial bombing.

Overall, nine people were killed and 17 wounded, two security officials said.
Violence elsewhere in Iraq left 14 people dead and dozens more wounded, security and medical officials said.
A car bomb in Bayaa, a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of west Baghdad, killed six people, while five more were wounded by a blast in mostly Sunni Amriyah district.

Attacks in Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, west of the capital in Anbar province, killed three people, while bombings in Mosul and in and around Baquba killed three more.
Two policemen were also killed in a coordinated attack on a welfare centre for policemen in the Sunni Arab city of Tikrit in which a car bomb was followed by clashes between militants and security forces.
The toll could have been much higher, officials said, but security forces managed to kill two would-be suicide bombers in the Tikrit attack.