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Iraq violence: Police killed in Anbar attacks | |
(about 14 hours later) | |
At least 19 police officers and three civilians have been killed in a series of attacks overnight in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, officials say. | |
The first saw a suicide bomber ram an explosives-filled car into a checkpoint in Rutba, 110km (70 miles) from the Syrian border, killing five policemen. | |
Another bomber blew up his vehicle near police deployed at a bypass, killing four officers and three lorry drivers. | |
Attacks by gunmen elsewhere in Anbar left seven other officers dead. | |
They opened fire on several checkpoints west of Ramadi, along the main road that links the capital Baghdad to Jordan and Syria. | |
No group has yet said it was behind the attacks, but Sunni Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda frequently target security forces personnel. | |
There has been a surge in sectarian violence across Iraq this year. | |
The UN says 979 people - including 127 police and 92 military personnel - were killed in violent attacks in September, bringing the number killed this year to 5,740. | |
The unrest was sparked by an army raid on a Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp in April. The protesters were calling for the resignation of Shia Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and denouncing the authorities for allegedly targeting the minority Sunni community. | |
Iraq has also seen a spill-over of violence from the conflict in Syria, where jihadist rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group that includes al-Qaeda, have risen to prominence. | |
In the past two months, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign the government is calling "Revenge for the Martyrs". | |
But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence. |