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Baghdad: Wave of attacks targeting both Iraqi security forces and
civilians has killed at least 48 people on Monday, news channels reported.
It was the second day
of deadly violence and it has come ahead of the first anniversary of the
withdrawal of US forces.
The deadliest of the attacks occurred in ethnically mixed
areas in the country's north.
Monday was the deadliest day in Iraq since November 29, when
50 people were killed. The latest violence comes after attacks killed 19 people
and wounded 77 on Sunday.
Also in the north, two car bombs went off in the town of Tuz
Khurmato, killing at least five people and wounding 24.
The northern areas, with a population of Arabs, Turkomans,
and Kurds, have recently been the focus of tensions between Iraq's central
government and the semiautonomous Kurdistan region.
In the religiously mixed town of Baquba, north of Baghdad,
roadside bombs killed at least one person and wounded about 10 others.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the December 17
attacks.
Notably, US military forces completed their withdrawal from
Iraq on December 18, 2011, ending a nearly nine-year war that cost the lives of
tens of thousands of Iraqis, thousands of Americans and hundreds of billions of
dollars.