Iraq bombs against Sunnis kill 12

Baghdad, April 12 :  Bombs against Sunni Muslim worshippers in Baghdad and north of the capital killed 12 people on Friday, officials said, the latest in an uptick in violence ahead of provincial elections next week.

In the deadliest single blast, a roadside bomb struck after prayers at the Omar bin Abdul Aziz mosque, in the town of Kanaan in restive Diyala province, a police colonel and a doctor said.

Overall, 12 people were killed and 30 others wounded, the sources said.

Two more bombings, in Baghdad and another town in Diyala, one near a Sunni mosque and the other as Sunni worshippers were returning from mid-day prayers, wounded seven.

Iraq is to hold provincial elections on 20th April, its first polls since 2010. Attacks on candidates have left at least a dozen election hopefuls dead, according to an tally.

That, and the fact that only 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces will vote due to a government postponement, has drawn the credibility of the polls into question.

They come with the country mired in a political crisis that has pitted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against several of his erstwhile national unity cabinet partners, and amid more than three months of anti-government protests by the Sunni Arab minority.

Violence killed 271 Iraqis last month, the highest monthly figure since August, according to an tally.