Bomb and gun attacks killed four people and wounded nine others across Iraq on Sunday, security officials said.

In the deadliest attack, gunmen shot dead an employee of the national security ministry and his wife in Qadissiyah in western Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

In Baquba, 60 kilometres (37.5 miles) north of Baghdad, one person was killed and six wounded, among them a woman and children, a security official said.

In the restive northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed a restaurant owner, while a passer-by was wounded when a mortar round hit a police station, police said.

Police said that a Kurdish security officer and his wife were wounded by a bomb near his house in Kirkuk, capital of the province of the same name, which the autonomous Kurdistan region wants to incorporate against Baghdad's wishes.

Bomb and gun attacks in central Iraq killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 20 others on Saturday, two days after triple blasts killed 19 people and wounded at least 65 in the southern port city of Basra.

Violence has declined nationwide since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 258 people were killed in October, according to official figures.

General Lloyd Austin, the top US commander in Iraq, has warned that the country's security situation is likely to see "turbulence" as American forces depart and groups including Al-Qaeda seek to take advantage of this.

American troops are set to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

16 killed in Iraq attacks
Baghdad (AFP) Nov 26, 2011 - Bomb and gun attacks in central Iraq killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 20 others on Saturday, security officials and a doctor said.

The latest attacks came two days after triple blasts killed 19 people in the southern port city of Basra.

At the launch of Saturday's violence, bombs on each side of the main road from Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, to Fallujah hit a truck carrying construction workers, First Lieutenant Omar Zawbai of the Abu Ghraib police told AFP.

Dr Omar Delli of Fallujah Hospital said "the hospital received seven bodies and seven wounded," two of whom later died.

An interior ministry official put the casualty toll at eight dead and 13 wounded from the Abu Ghraib attack.

The official also said three bombs exploded in the Baab al-Sharqi area of central Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 28 others.

A defence ministry official put the toll from the Baghdad blasts at eight dead and 16 wounded.

The interior ministry official also said an employee of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's administration was shot dead by gunmen using silencers near Nisur Square in central Baghdad.

Three bombs exploded in Basra on Thursday, killing 19 people, including high-ranking army and police officers, and wounding at least 65. Basra provincial council sacked three top security officers the next day.

Violence has declined nationwide since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 258 people were killed in October, according to official figures.