Suicide Bombers, Fighting Kill 33 in Northern Iraq

Twin suicide bombings targeting Iraq's Shabak minority and fighting between security forces and militants killed 33 people in the northern province of Nineveh on Friday, officials said.

Provincial capital Mosul is one of Iraq's most dangerous cities, with well-entrenched militant groups carrying out almost daily attacks.

The two suicide bombers blew up vehicles in the Shabak village of Al-Muwaffaqiyah, east of the city, killing four people and wounding 45, police and medical officials said.

Most of Iraq's 30,000 Shabaks follow a blend of Shiite Islam and local beliefs viewed as heretical by Sunni Islamist groups and they have been periodically targeted for attack.

In west Mosul, four police, three soldiers and 16 militants were killed in clashes, while a mortar round killed a civilian, officials said.

In the Hamam al-Alil area south of the city, soldiers shot dead five would-be suicide bombers.

The violence came a day after militants launched a major attack on the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, occupying multiple neighbourhoods.

Soldiers, police and tribal fighters backed by helicopters eventually regained control, a senior army officer said, but only after heavy fighting in which 12 police and dozens of militants were killed.

Violence is running at its highest levels since 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed in sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni Arab minority.

More than 900 people were killed last month, according to figures separately compiled by the United Nations and the government.

So far this year, more than 4,300 people have been killed, according to an Agence France Presse tally.

Officials blame external factors for the rise in bloodshed, particularly the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

But analysts say widespread Sunni Arab disenchantment with the Shiite-led government has also been a major factor.