Five killed, 25 hurt in Iraq attacks

AP BAGHDAD Iraqi officials say two attacks in different parts of the country have five people killed and 25 wounded. A police officer says a parked car bomb ripped through a residential area on Wednesday in the town of Musayyib, killing three civilians and wounding 14. The city is about 60 kilometers (40 miles) South of Baghdad.

Another police officer said that a bomb targeted a restaurant in the town of Madain, killing two and wounding 11.

Madain is about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of the Iraqi capital.

Two health officials confirmed the causality figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraqi civilians are frequent targets for insurgents want to shake confidence in the Government's efforts to maintain security.

This new series of attacks near Baghdad and North of the capital, in which five people were killed on Wednesday were the latest in a clear spike in Iraq violence only weeks before the first elections in three years.

Separate bomb attacks South of Baghdad — inside a restaurant and the other a car bombing near a checkpoint of a police killed two people and left 26 others injured, officials said.

They said three gun and bomb attacks in restive cities North of the capital two more people killed and two others injured.

The attacks come ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April 20, will take place in 12 of the 18 provinces of Iraq, the first polls of the country since a parliamentary vote in March 2010.

But questiones are asked about the credibility of these polls as elections in two provinces roiled with months of protests have delayed, and at least a dozen candidates have been killed, according to an AFP tally.

Although significantly lower than the peak in 2006 and 2007, is of violence still high in Iraq — at least 240 people have been killed in attacks this month, more than in February.

Meanwhile, in a new political development the UAE warned its citizens Wednesday not to travel to Iraq on hunting trips this season because of the insecurity in the country, State News Agency WAM reported.

"This measure is meant to ensure the security and protection of the citizens of the country," said senior Foreign Ministry official Abdullah bin Mohammed bin al-Hamed, Buti Emiratis, according to WAM.

Many Emirates hunters travel to Iraq in the spring of Sunni-majority Western Province of Anbar, the site of protests against Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki.

Others head to South Shiite populated cities.

Iraq's western regions have been rocked by a campaign against the Maliki Shia-dominated Government, while suicide attacks common in Baghdad despite a relative drop in violence across the country.