At least 32 soldiers and policemen were injured in two separate attacks on Iraqi security forces on Wednesday as US and Iraqi forces searched for militants in the capital Baghdad.
Security sources told the German Press Agency dpa that seven soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing between Qada Daquq and Kirkuk, around 250 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Earlier, 25 Iraqi soldiers and policemen were injured in Mosul, 400 kilometres north of the city, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near an Iraqi army building.
Meanwhile, US and Iraqi security forces conducted an extensive search for militants in southern Baghdad’s Jisr Diyali area, witnesses told dpa.
Security forces were seen on the streets entering homes and using megaphones to ask people to identify militants Tension and violence is expected to increase in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 7.