hree folks were killed and 13 others were wounded in separate bomb and gunfire attacks in central and northern Iraq

3 individuals had been killed and 13 others were wounded in separate bomb and gunfire attacks in central and northern Iraq, the police stated on Monday.

In northern Iraq, unidentified gunmen shot dead Arkan Jihad Yaqoub, an official in the government-owned cement factory, near his house in western the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a nearby police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in the morning when Yaqoub, from the Iraqi Christian minority, left his home in his car heading to work, the source stated.

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb ripped by means of an intersection in al-Shaab district in northeastern the capital in the course of the morning rush hours, killing a civilian and wounding 4 other people, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near a police patrol at a crowded intersection in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, damaging a police vehicle and wounding three policemen aboard, the source stated.

Two civilians were also wounded by the blast that damaged a number of nearby civilian vehicles, the source added.

Also in Baghdad, a roadside bomb explosion apparently missed its target of a convoy of vehicles of a private security firm even though moving in Baghdad central district of Karrada, wounding two civilians, he said.

Near Baghdad, gunmen late on Sunday night shot dead an off-duty policeman inside the town of al-Mashahda, some 20 km north of the capital, the source said.

In western Baghdad, Hazim al-Shimmary, a Baghdad University teacher was wounded late on Sunday when a sticky bomb attached to his auto detonated at a marketplace in al-Khadraa district, the source added.

Also late last night, a police officer was wounded when a bomb attached to his vehicle went off in Baghdad's southeastern neighborhood of Mashtal, he stated.

The attacks are component of wave of assassinations by militia and gangs against Iraqi security members, officials and civilians. The attackers' tactics varied from suicide bombings, gunfire by silenced weapons and sticky bombs attached to vehicles.

Such bloody wave across the country underscores the challenges that the Iraqi security forces are facing as they struggle to restore stability and normalcy in Iraqi cities about seven months before the departure of all U.S. forces by the end of 2011.

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