26 killed and scores wounded in a spate of bomb attacks in Iraq

A spate of bomb attacks appearing to target security forces in central and west Iraq on Wednesday killed at least 26 people and injured scores of others, officials said.

A bomb attached to a military bus killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 20 others when it went off in western Iraq, army sources said.

The sources said the explosion occurred inside an Iraqi military base in Habaniya, 85 km (50 miles) west of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, at least 11 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded when a bomb exploded in the town of al-Hamza, just south of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad

Police sources said the bomb went off in a popular area with restaurants and coffee shops.

In Baghdad, insurgents opened fire on a police checkpoint in the Qahira neighborhood, in the capital’s north, killing two policemen and wounding another, an interior ministry official said.

Violence is down across Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 239 people were killed in violence in the country in August, according to official figures.

A total of 1,860 Iraqis have been killed since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP tally based on government figures.

Assaults on the country's army and police have been rising as they prepare to take sole responsibility for security ahead of an expected full withdrawal of U.S. troops by year-end.

Iraqi politicians are trying to decide whether to ask Washington to leave some troops in Iraq after Dec. 31 to continue to train the army and police.

In August, 45 police and 39 soldiers were killed, according to figures from the interior and defence ministries.