DHAKA: Attacks in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq killed nine people on Sunday, exactly a month ahead of parliamentary polls that remain in disarray after the mass resignations of election commissioners last week.

The violence came hours after seven soldiers were shot dead at a checkpoint in a late-night attack by militants in the north, the latest in a surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,200 people already this year.

The unrest has been driven principally by anger in the Sunni Arab minority over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shia-led authorities, as well as by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.

A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives on a major bridge in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad where security forces are still grappling to retain full control after militants took over several neighbourhoods two months ago, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1956 HRS, MAR 30, 2014