Fifteen killed in Iraq attacks

At least 15 people were killed Thursday in a series of attacks across Iraq, said security sources, despite an attempted crackdown by the authorities on suspected insurgents, dpa reported.

Ten people were killed when unknown gunmen attacked a house some 100 kilometres south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a security source told dpa.

Two women and a child were among the victims in the attack on the house in the city of al-Hilla where security personnel lived, according to the source.

Elsewhere, three people died and eight injured when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in northern Iraqi, a senior security official said.

The blast occurred near a school in the city of Kirkuk, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, Colonel Shirzad Aref from the city's police department told dpa.

Two more civilians were killed and one injured when a roadside bomb exploded in an area in Baghdad, reported the Iraqi news agency Al Bughdadia.

Fears have grown among Iraqis about an increase in assaults by armed groups since US troops completed their withdrawal from the country in December.

A fugitive prisoner, suspected of having links with al-Qaeda was Thursday arrested in the northern city of Mosul, said security sources.

Twelve others, suspected of involvement in recent terror attacks were Thursday detained in the north-eastern town of Baquba, reported al-Bughdadia.

The arrests were part of a crackdown launched by authorities on suspected insurgents, according to the report.

Meanwhile, four former leaders in the banned al-Baath party were held in the southern province of Basra on suspicion of seeking to revive the party, according to local officials who did not name the detainees.

Al-Baath, that dominated Iraq for decades, was disbanded after a US-led invasion toppled the country's autocrat Saddam Hussein in 2003.