Separate attacks in Iraq kill 24

BAGHDAD — A double bombing at a market and other attacks across Iraq killed at least 24 on Monday, officials said.

Twin explosions went off shortly after sunset at the entrance of an outdoor market in downtown Baghdad, killing 13 shoppers and wounding 35 others, police officials said.

Also, three civilians and a policeman were killed and 30 others were wounded when a roadside blast hit a passing police patrol in a crowded commercial street at night in the northern city of Mosul, said local police and hospital officials.

In southern Baghdad, three policemen and a civilian were killed while four other policemen were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a police checkpoint at noon. Also, gunmen killed a Justice Ministry employee in a drive-by-shooting as he was driving home from work in Baiyaa district in western Baghdad.

Bombings in public places are the hallmark of al-Qaida’s Iraq branch, which is trying to destabilize the Shiite-led government.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb struck a car carrying two anti-al-Qaida Sunni militiamen in Baghdad’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing them both.

The militia, known as the Sahwa, joined forces with U.S. troops at the height of the Iraq war to fight al-Qaida. Iraqi troops and Sahwa fighters have been a favorite target for Sunni insurgents, who consider them to be traitors.

Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to media.

Today’s attacks bring the death toll across the country this month to at least 357, according to an Associated Press count. Many deaths may go unreported.

Violence spiked in April after security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp, although monthly death tolls remain lower than at the height of the violence in 2004-2008.