Gunmen killed 22 passengers on a bus coming from Syria late Monday in a desert region west of Baghdad, police general Haider Rzayj told AFP.

"Some armed men stopped the bus coming from Syria Monday around 9:30 pm (1830 GMT), they made the 22 passengers get off the bus and killed them with automatic weapons in the desert region of Noukhair," he said.

All of the victims were men, he added.

The region is about 300 kilometres (185 miles) west of Baghdad, a sector under the control of the Iraqi army.

Since the US-led invasion in 2003, the Sunni province of Anbar in west Iraq has been a fiefdom of Al-Qaeda, whose members have killed numerous Iraqis and foreigners who travel on the route from Jordan or Syria.

Since 2007, tribal militias have successfully cracked down on insurgents but have not completely eliminated them.

Sunni imam killed in central Iraq
Baquba, Iraq (AFP) Sept 12, 2011 - A Sunni Muslim imam was shot dead by gunmen on Monday in the centre of the restive Iraqi city of Baquba north of the capital, a security official said.

"Unknown gunmen used silenced weapons to assassinate the imam of the Al-Shuhada mosque, Ahmed Mahmud al-Jabalawi," the official said.

The 63-year-old, who was known for his outspoken criticism of Al-Qaeda, was killed on his way to the mosque for morning prayers, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, in the main northern city of Mosul, a car bomb wounded six people, including five policemen, a police officer said.

A separate vehicle packed with explosives wounded two people in Iskandiriyah just south of Baghdad, another police officer said. Both declined to be identified.

Violence is down across Iraq from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common. A total of 239 people were killed in violence in the country in August, according to official figures.

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