Iraq attacks, including suicide bombs, leave 11 dead

Attacks in Iraq, including suicide bombings against police and the killing of a family, left 11 people dead Wednesday, part of a surge in violence authorities have struggled to stem.

The bloodshed, which has left nearly 6,000 people dead so far this year in the worst violence to hit Iraq since 2008, comes just months before general elections and has forced authorities to appeal for international help in combatting militancy.

Although there have been no claims of responsibility for much of the unrest, authorities have voiced concern over a resurgent Al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.

Two separate attacks involving multiple suicide bombers against police near Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killed at least four policemen and left 11 others wounded, police and a doctor said.

One of the attacks involved a car bomb set off by a suicide attacker on the western outskirts of the city, followed by a firefight between militants and police before four suicide bombers blew themselves up during the clashes.

Two policemen were killed and seven were wounded, but officials warned the toll from the 8:30 am (0530 GMT) attack could rise further.

A separate suicide bombing at a police station just north of the city killed two more policemen and left four wounded.

Ramadi is the capital of the western desert province of Anbar, which shares a long border with Syria. Iraqi security officials fear that Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaeda have exploited the relative lack of security to set up training camps and carry out attacks on both sides of the frontier.

Violence in Baghdad, meanwhile, left seven people dead, including five members of a Sunni Arab family shot dead in their homes in a pre-dawn attack in the north of the capital.

Iraq's government has trumpeted wide-ranging security operations targeting militants, primarily in Sunni-majority areas in the north and west of the country, but the daily attacks have shown no sign of abating.

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials.

Diplomats, analysts and rights groups say the government is not doing enough to address the root causes of the unrest, particularly disquiet among Sunnis over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki used a recent trip to Washington to push for greater intelligence sharing and the timely delivery of new weapons systems in a bid to combat militants, while France and Turkey have offered assistance.