Three gunmen attacked a police checkpoint on the highway west of Tikrit, killing one policeman and wounding three.

A police patrol chased the gunmen, who abandoned their car and then detonated explosives in it, killing four more police and wounding two, a police lieutenant colonel said.

A doctor confirmed the toll.

In the village of Al-Buslaibi, north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting an army patrol killed three soldiers, an army captain and a police lieutenant colonel said.

A car bomb in Khaznah, a village near Mosul in north Iraq populated by the small Shabak minority, killed seven people and wounded 12, while two car bombs near a Shia place of worship, or husseiniyah, killed five and wounded 20 in the northern flashpoint town of Tuz Khurmatu, police officers and doctors said.

Monday's violence comes a day after a string of bombings and a shooting killed 19 people.