Bombings, shooting kill 11 in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) Two bombings and an ambush of a police checkpoint in Iraq killed 11 people in and west of the capital on Monday, said officials.

Police officials said the deadliest attack took place at night when a bomb exploded inside a caf full of customers in southwestern Baghdad, killing six and wounding 16.

Hours earlier, three people were killed and five others wounded when a bomb went off in a commercial street in the Abu Ghraib area to the west of the capital.

Also, gunmen sprayed a security checkpoint with bullets in the city of Fallujah, a former al-Qaida stronghold 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Baghdad. Two policemen were killed in the attack, said officials.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for all attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

Violence has spiked in Iraq, with over 5,000 people killed, since a deadly April security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawijah. Public places like cafes, restaurants, mosques and markets have been bombed by insurgents who want to undermine the Shiite led-government in Baghdad. Security forces have also been targeted.