Iraq attacks kill 8 people in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombings and shootings killed at least eight people in and around the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, including a judge, officials said.

Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire at the judge, killing him and his driver, police said.

They say a sticky bomb attached to a mini-bus exploded later in the afternoon in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr city, killing three passengers and wounding eight.

In northern Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed a police patrol but killed one civilian and wounded six.

Later on, gunmen in a speeding car sprayed an army checkpoint in the western suburb of Abu Ghraib with bullets, killing two soldiers and wounding two others, said police and hospital officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Violence has been on the rise in Iraq recently as security forces and allied Sunni tribesmen in Anbar province battle al-Qaida fighters over the control of two key cities there. At least 233 people have died in violence across the country so far this month, according to an Associated Press count.

Meanwhile, the U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon visited the Kawrgosik camp for Syrian refugees near Irbil city in Iraq's Kurdish autonomous region.

Ban expressed his deep sadness over the suffering and the hard conditions the refugees are living in.

"I am particularly saddened to see so many young children and women and vulnerable groups who suffer from this man-made tragedy," he added.

The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests against Bashar Assad before shifting into an armed insurgency after a brutal government crackdown. It has killed more than 120,000 people, forced more than 2 million to flee the country and devastated the nation's cities, economy and social fabric.