The deadliest attack on Monday hit north Iraq, where a car bomb south of the city of Mosul killed six people, including three children, and wounded eight.

A car bomb in the city also killed one person and wounded four.

In Madain, south of Baghdad, a bomb exploded near a football field inside a sports club on Monday, killing at least five people.

And gunmen attacked a checkpoint on a highway in northern Iraq, sparking clashes that killed three anti-Al-Qaeda fighters and two militants.

The anti-Al-Qaeda fighters, known as Sahwa, are a collection of tribal militias that turned against Al-Qaeda, helping turn the tide against Iraq's bloody insurgency.

On Sunday night, gunmen killed a policeman, his father, his wife and three children as they drove south of Baghdad on their way back from a wedding.

And armed men shot dead two police in an attack on a checkpoint in Tikrit, north of the capital.

With the latest violence, over 185 people have been killed in unrest in the first eight days of July -- far more than in the whole month of December, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

Iraq has seen a surge in violence since the beginning of the year.

The country is also struggling with a political deadlock in which Iraqi political leaders have vowed to resolve outstanding disputes, with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meeting with his two main rivals last month in a bid to ease tensions.