Baghdad, Dec 16

At least 13 people were killed and 52 wounded Monday morning in a series of bomb attacks, including four car bombings, across Iraq's capital Baghdad, a police source said.

"The latest reports said that a total of 13 people were killed and 52 wounded by the terrorist explosions across Baghdad," the source told Xinhua.

The deadliest attack occurred near Baghdad Provincial Council in the downtown area of the city when a car bomb detonated and killed six people and wounded 11 others, the source said.

Another car bomb went off at a busy parking lot, also in downtown Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 20 others.

Yet another car bomb went off in the adjacent neighbourhood of Sadriyah, killing at least one civilian and wounding five others, the source added.

A fourth car bomb detonated in Baiyaa district in the southern part of the capital, killing a civilian and wounding 15 people, he said.

In another incident, a civilian was wounded when gunmen opened fire at him in New Baghdad district in the south, he added.

South of Baghdad, a sticky bomb attached to a car detonated in the town of Mahmoudiyah, killing the driver, the source said.

Earlier in the day, a police source from Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin told Xinhua that at least three policemen and a gunman were killed in a coordinated car bomb and gunfire attack on the police headquarters in the city of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, 8,109 Iraqis were killed in the country from January to November this year.