Casualties occurred when a bomber blew up his explosive-laden car at police checkpoint at the entrance of Baghdad's Kadhimiya district on Sunday

Five soldiers are among the fatalities. Reports say that attacks and bombings across the country have killed nearly 2,000 people since April, in the worst violence in five years.

The flare-up of violence in Iraq has sparked worries, with the UN ambassador to Iraq, Martin Kobler, recently warning of an ‘explosion’ of unrest. Kobler has also urged Iraq’s political leaders to “engage immediately to pull the country out of this mayhem.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says militant groups and the remnants of the former Ba’athist regime are behind the latest spate of violence.