At least 18 people were killed and 45 others wounded in violent attacks and clashes across Iraq on Thursday, police said.

A car bomb attack near a market in Baghdad's northern district of Adhamiya killed five people and wounded 21 others. The blast also damaged several shops and cars nearby.

A sticky bomb and a roadside bomb exploded Thursday evening in the district of Amiriya in western Baghdad, killing four people and injuring nine others.

In Baghdad's southwestern district of Saidiyah, a roadside bomb attack killed one person and wounded eight others.

Earlier in the day, eight people, including a candidate of upcoming parliamentary polls, were killed in violence across the country.

In Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, a candidate for Mutahidoun political bloc was shot dead by gunmen while he was driving his car in the city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad.

In a separate incident, a soldier was killed and two others injured when a roadside bomb struck their military vehicle in eastern Mosul.

Four more soldiers were wounded in two roadside bomb attacks on their patrols around Mosul.

Also in Salahudin province, a police officer was killed and his wife wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car was detonated in the provincial capital city Tikrit.

In eastern Iraq, security forces killed five suspected gunmen during an operation at villages near Diyala's provincial capital city Baquba.

Iraq is witnessing its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years. Enditem

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