Three people were killed and nine others wounded in two attacks in and near Mosul, the capital city of Nineveh province, a police source said on Saturday.
Three off-duty policemen were shot dead when their car was stopped by gunmen wearing military uniforms at a faked checkpoint in Wana area, some 30 km north of Mosul, late on Friday night, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
On Saturday morning, a car bomb detonated near an Iraqi army patrol in al-Faisaliyah district in eastern Mosul, damaging a military vehicle and wounding two soldiers aboard, the source said.
The powerful blast also wounded seven bystanders and caused severe damages to several nearby buildings and civilian cars, the source added.
Nineveh province and its capital city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, has long been stronghold for insurgent groups, including al-Qaida militants. The province has been the scene of major security crackdowns by the U. S. troops and Iraqi security forces to uproot the insurgency which erupted shortly after the U. S.-led invasion in 2003.