Baghdad, May 10 (RHC)-- At least 16 people, including security forces, have been killed in a series of bomb blasts and shootings in northern Iraqi cities. Police officials said on Saturday that the deadliest attack took place in the town of Dujail, north of the capital, Baghdad, after a bomber hit his explosive-laden car at a checkpoint. Six security forces and a civilian were killed and 15 others injured.

Four people were also killed and 17 others wounded in a bomb explosion in an outdoor market in Tarmiyah, also north of Baghdad. In the town of Dawr, 130km north of the capital, a bomb blast killed three pro-government Sunni fighters and injured two others.

Meanwhile, separate shootings in the northern province of Nineveh claimed the lives of two people. The attacks came as Iraqi forces continue their offensive against al-Qaeda-linked militants in the western province of Anbar. Earlier on Saturday, a shelling attack left 11 people dead and wounded 20 in the city of Fallujah.