Iraq attacks kill 19, injure dozens

A spate of attacks across Iraq killed 19 people, including a local politician and a child, and injured dozens, making it the country's deadliest day since Ramadan began.

In the worst incident Saturday, five policemen and three civilians, including a 10-year-old child, died when a suicide car bomber targeted a police base in Al-Sharqat, north of Tikrit, officials said.

At least 20 people, 13 police among them, were wounded in the morning attack, the local police chief said. Hours later, four people were killed and 23 others injured when a bomb exploded at a market in Sinjar, a town near the Syrian border and west of the restive northern city of Mosul.

A high-ranking official at Sinjar hospital said the four dead were a man and his son, another man and another child. "The casualties include women and children," added Elias Kheder, a local authority official.

Around 70 per cent of the population of Sinjar are members of the ancient Yazidi religious sect. On August 13, 21 people were killed and 32 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a packed cafe in the town.