Sixteen soldiers and seven civilians were killed in separate attacks by gunmen in western and northern Iraq on Sunday, police said.

In northern Iraq, gunmen attacked an army base after midnight in Aiyn al-Jahash area in south of the city of Mosul, leaving seven soldiers killed, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In Anbar province, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden vehicle at a major bridge in al-Houze district in the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 11 others, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

The bridge, which is across the Euphrates River and connecting the northern and southern part of the city, is a key routeway for the local residents. The huge blast badly damaged the bridge, the source said.

Also in Anbar, gunmen attacked an army base before dawn and led a fierce clash with the soldiers at a village near the city of Fallujah, killing nine soldiers and wounding 14 others, the source added.

Anbar province has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in late December last year.

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