BAGHDAD: A spate of bombings and shootings in Baghdad and a restive province north of the capital killed nine people on Thursday morning, security and medical officials said.    

In Baghdad, a car bomb at 8:00am (0500 GMT) killed at least three people and wounded 11 others near a police station in the predominantly Shiite  neighbourhood of Hurriyah, officials said.  

Several minibuses and cars were damaged or burned in the attack and a photographer at the scene saw damage to houses near the blast site.

Security forces sealed off the area while firefighters used water hoses in order to clean up the area.

A series of separate shootings and bombings in Diyala province killed six people and wounded six others.

The victims included an army officer gunned down  inside his house and two guards of Diyala University’s president killed in bomb blasts as they were escorting him in a convoy.   

Dulaimi was heading to his office in Baquba city. Two bodyguards were killed and two others were wounded. A provincial police official said Dulaimi was not hurt in the attack.

Baquba is 60 kilometres northeast of Baghdad

Hours later, police said a roadside bomb struck a police patrol in southeastern Baghdad, killing one civilian bystander and wounding three policemen.

Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the media.  

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attacks but militants often target Shiite areas and official targets in a bid to  destabilise the government and re-ignite the brutal sectarian conflict that engulfed Iraq from 2005 to 2008.    

The latest violence comes with Iraq mired in a series of interlocking crises that have raised tensions as anti-government protesters have blocked off  a key trade route in more than two weeks of ongoing rallies.    

Protests swept Sunni areas in Anbar province and other parts of the country after the arrests of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia Al Issawi, one of the central government’s most senior Sunni officials.

Violence is down in Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain  common, especially in Baghdad and Diyala, which has the highest per capita rate  of civilian deaths nationwide according to monitor group Iraq Body Count.