英语文摘:49 killed in violence across Iraq

BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 49 people were killed and 69 others wounded on Monday in separate violent attacks across Iraq, including battles with insurgent groups in the western province of Anbar, security and medical sources said.

In Anbar province, fierce clashes erupted between Iraqi forces and gunmen believed to be linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaida breakaway group in Iraq, on the eastern edge of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 19 militants killed and 20 others wounded, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, six people were killed and 15 wounded by artillery and mortar shelling on several neighborhoods in Fallujah and the nearby town of Saqlawiya, a medical source from the city hospital told Xinhua.

Also in the province, a joint police and army force fought fierce battle with gunmen said to be linked to ISIL in Albu-Nimer district in the northern part of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, 110 km north of Baghdad, leaving 10 gunmen killed and four policemen wounded, the provincial police source said.

In addition, suspected ISIL gunmen clashed with a force tasked with protecting the provincial governor in the western part of Ramadi, killing three of the governor's guards and wounding three others, including an officer, the source said, adding that the governor himself was not at the scene during the battle.

Anbar province has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in late December last year.

In Baghdad, police found the bodies of three civilians gunshot wounds in Kadmiyah district in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, a police source said that unidentified gunmen in several sport utility vehicles late Sunday night stormed an office in Karrada district in central the capital and kidnapped five lawyers.

The identities of the attackers and their motive are not immediately known, the source said.

In Salahudin province, a suicide bomber blew up an explosive- laden car at an army checkpoint in south Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, leaving two soldiers killed and three others wounded, a provincial police source said.

The blast also killed two civilians who were at the scene, the source added.

Separately, a police chief and two of his bodyguards were wounded when a roadside bomb struck his convoy in north Baiji, the source said, adding that two civilians were also wounded by another roadside bomb explosion near their car in Baiji.

Also in the province, a soldier was shot dead by gunmen using silenced weapons at a marketplace in the city of Shirqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad, the source added.

Another soldier was killed and two more were wounded when two roadside bombs went off in quick succession in the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

Elsewhere, a soldier was killed and 10 others were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in a desert road in Jurf al-Sakhar area, some 50 km south of Baghdad, a police source said.

Also on Monday, a civilian was killed and seven others were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near a police station in the town of Mahmoudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad, the police said.

Iraq is witnessing some of its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.