Rebels launched multiple attacks on Iraqi police posts around the city of Tikrit killing 23 people – including 18 policemen – a day after the major Sunni Muslim political party pulled out of the campaign for the January 30 elections citing the deteriorating security situation.

Rebels launched multiple attacks on Iraqi police posts around the city of Tikrit, killing 18 policemen and injuring three, while a car bomb in northern Baghdad injured nine people, Iraqi and US officials said today.

Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb in the central Iraq city of Samarra and mortar rounds landed near a US military outpost in violence that killed one and injured three others, including two children.

Insurgents set off at least two car bombs and attacked a police station today in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, killing at least 19 people and injuring 23, according to police and health officials.