BAGHDAD — Bombings and shootings across Iraq on Saturday killed 19 people, including an ambush that targeted a convoy carrying a top military commander in the country, authorities said.
Violence has been on the rise in Iraq all year, but the number of attacks against civilians and security forces has spiked during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began early last month. The surge in the bloodshed is raising fears of a return to the widespread killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The deadliest attack involved an ambush targeting the motorcade of Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir al-Zaidi, a top military commander, in an area north of Baghdad. Gunmen killed six of al-Zaidi’s bodyguards and wounded four others, police said.
Al-Zaidi, who commands some government forces in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, was not injured, police said.
Gunmen also broke into the house of a former fighter in the anti-al-Qaeda militia known as Sahwa, killing the man’s wife and two daughters near the city of Baqubah. The father was not in the house at the time of the attack.
Sahwa joined with U.S. troops in the war against al-Qaeda at the height of Iraq war. Ever since, it has been a target for Sunni insurgents who consider them traitors. There were several attacks in July targeting current and former Sahwa members.
In another attack near Baqubah, gunmen shot and killed two Sahwa fighters as they were working on their farm.
Meanwhile, police officials said gunmen in a car killed two off-duty police officers near the northern city of Mosul. In the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, a roadside bomb explosion killed a father and his son, authorities said.
In western Baghdad, a bomb went off near a line of car part stores, killing two people and wounding seven others, officials said. In the southeast of the capital, authorities said a blast missed a police patrol but killed two civilian passers-by.
Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all attacks.
