A series of car bombings and ambushes in Iraq Monday have left at least 42 people dead, as coalition and Iraqi forces continue a huge manhunt for insurgents around Baghdad.
Officials say two car bombs west of the northern city of Mosul killed at least 20 people and injured 20 more late Monday.
Earlier, hospital officials say two car bomb attacks in the Baghdad area killed at least 13 people and wounded some 120 others.
Separately in Baghdad, gunmen killed a top Iraqi security official, Wael al-Rubaei, and his driver. Al-Qaida linked insurgents claimed responsibility.
Near the oil city of Kirkuk, a car bomb blast killed five people and wounded at least 13 in Tuz Khormato . Separately, two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a mortar attack in Samarra.
U.S. officials say several thousand coalition and Iraqi forces west of the capital have detained about 300 suspected insurgents, in Iraq's largest-ever joint security operation.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.
