Day of violence engulfs Iraq

A wave of attacks by insurgents across Iraq has left dozens dead.

A day of violence on Sunday saw rocket attacks on the Green Zone, the heavily fortified Government compound in the capital Baghdad.

Witnesses said rebels fired two salvos several hours apart at the central district.

Two Katyusha rockets fired at the zone killed up to eight people when they landed in residential districts, according to police.

In the south of the city, gunmen in three vehicles opened fire on pedestrians, killing seven people and wounding sixteen others.

And a suicide car bomber killed at least six people and wounded ten others in a blast near a petrol station in Shula district, northwestern Baghdad.

In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide truck bomber attacked an Iraqi army base, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 45 others, while another bomber killed one soldier and wounded eight other people at an Iraqi army checkpoint.

Four Iraqi soldiers also died in a roadside bomb blast while they were on patrol near Tuz Khurmato, near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Gunmen assassinated the commander of an Iraqi army rapid reaction unit outside his home in the town of Abu Saida in unstable Diyala province.

And a police lieutenant was gunned down at a checkpoint in Baquba, near Baghdad.

But US forces hit back in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of the capital, killing 12 gunmen who were said to be part of a suicide bombing network.

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