Attacks mostly targeting security forces in and around Baghdad and in northern Iraq, one of them a suicide bombing, killed four people on Sunday, the latest in a spike in unrest ahead of elections.

The suicide bomber blew up a car at a military checkpoint in Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital, killing two people and wounding 11, a security official and a medical source said. Among the victims were one soldier who died and four who were hurt.

And on the capital's northern outskirts, a magnetic "sticky bomb" attached to a car detonated near a checkpoint, killing the vehicle's driver.

Five shootings and bombings in Kirkuk and Mosul, both northern cities, killed one person and wounded six. All of the injured were policemen or soldiers.

The attacks come ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April 20, due to be held in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces, the country's first polls since a parliamentary vote in March 2010.

But questions have been raised over the credibility of the polls as they have been postponed in two provinces roiled by months of protests, and 11 candidates have been killed, according to an AFP tally.

Although markedly lower than its peak in 2006 and 2007, levels of violence remain high in Iraq — at least 267 people have been killed in attacks this month, the highest figure since August 2012.

Iraq president improving, now able to speak: medic
Kirkuk, Iraq (AFP) March 30, 2013 –

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is being treated in Germany after suffering a stroke, is now able to speak and is able to recognise those around him, his doctor said on Saturday.

"The president's health is improving, and he is responding well to treatment," Najm al-Din Karim, who is also the governor of Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, told AFP.

"He is speaking, reading, eating and undergoing physiotherapy," Karim said, adding that Talabani's memory was recovering and he was able to identify those around him.

"The German medical team is optimistic his health will continue to improve. His return to Iraq depends on the decision of the medical team in Berlin."

Talabani, 79, travelled to Germany in December after suffering a stroke, the latest in a series of health problems he has suffered in recent years.

His health has major political implications in Iraq, where he has sought to bring together feuding factions, Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Kurdish.

Talabani, who was born in November 1933, underwent successful heart surgery in the United States in August 2008. The previous year, he was evacuated to neighbouring Jordan for treatment for dehydration and exhaustion.

He has also travelled to clinics in Europe in the past for treatment for a variety of ailments.