12 dead in Iraq shooting and suicide bombings

At least 12 people have been killed in an attack at a security checkpoint and a suicide car bomb in Iraq, emergency officials said.

Police said the deadliest attack occurred early on Sunday when fighters and troops manning a checkpoint near the city of Mosul engaged in a shootout.

Seven soldiers were killed in the attack.

Hours later, a suicide bomber set off his explosive-laden car on the main al-Houz bridge, 115 km west of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding seven others, as well as destroying the bridge.

The attacks come exactly a month ahead of parliamentary polls that remain in disarray after the mass resignations of election commissioners last week.

Fierce clashes pitting government security forces and allied Sunni tribal groups against a coalition of fighters have been raging in Anbar province since late December.

Medics confirmed the casualties for both attacks. 

Violence has escalated in Iraq over the past year, with 2013 recording the country's highest death toll since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting began to subside in 2007, according to the United Nations figures.