Iraqi authorities say separate car bombings in the north and south of the country have killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 10 others.
In the deadliest of the attacks Monday, a car bomb went off inside a residential compound for displaced Iraqi Shi'ites near the northern city of Mosul, killing nine people, including women and children.
The al-Ghadier compound houses members of Iraq's Shebek community, a small Shi'ite sect. Nearby Mosul was a stronghold of Sunni al-Qaida militants at the height of Iraq's sectarian conflict in the years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
In the other attack, officials say a car bomb exploded in the southern town of Hilla, killing three people and wounding about a dozen others.
Iraq has seen an increase in militant attacks, many targeting majority Shi'ites, since U.S. troops completed a pullout from the country last month, ending an eight-year-long war.
The violence has coincided with a sectarian political feud between Iraq's Shi'ite prime minister and his Sunni-backed coalition partners and has left dozens dead and hundreds wounded.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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