Militants killed at least 15 members of Iraq's security forces on Thursday in a series of attacks against soldiers and police.
The deadliest assault occurred in a mainly Sunni district of Baghdad, al-Azamiyah. Militants opened fire on an army checkpoint and then detonated roadside bombs as police and civil defense teams rushed to the scene.
The coordinated attacks killed at least nine security force members and three civilians, while wounding about 15 other people.
Witnesses say the gunmen burned several of the soldiers' bodies and brazenly raised al-Qaida's black flag in the Iraqi capital.
North of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb attack against an Iraqi army base killed three soldiers and wounded at least 10 in the town of al-Sharqat.
Elsewhere, two roadside bombs apparently targeting Iraqi army patrols killed two soldiers and wounded eight in the western city of Fallujah.
Another bombing killed a policeman and wounded two others in the northern city of Mosul.
Meanwhile, an al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq has claimed responsibility for Monday's car bomb attack on the Baghdad offices of the Al-Arabiya television channel.
The group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq Thursday issued a statement praising the attack that killed four people and wounded 16 others. The statement described Al-Arabiya as a "corrupt channel" and said the group would not hesitate to target media organizations that it believes are tools in what it called "the war against God."
The Arabic-language station is owned by Saudi Arabia and based in Dubai.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
