Gunmen shot dead four women in Baghdad and killed three men north of the capital on Sunday, security and medical officials said.

The women were killed in a house in the Karrada area of central Baghdad, while the men were shot dead while walking on the main road in the Mishahada area, they said.

It was not immediately clear why the victims were attacked. Shootings in Iraq often target security forces or government employees.

Violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first four months of this year.

With the latest attacks, 109 people have been killed in violence so far this month, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

Suicide bomber targets senior Iraq intel officer
Tikrit, Iraq (AFP) May 11, 2013 - A suicide bomber targeted the home of a senior Iraqi intelligence officer north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing three people, while four more died in other attacks, officials said.

The bomber detonated a small tanker truck at the home of police Brigadier General Ismail al-Juburi, a senior officer for Nineveh province, killing his son, nephew and sister-in-law -- and wounding 21 others, police and a doctor said.

Juburi was not present at the time of the attack, which took place in the Al-Sharqat area.

Suicide bombings are usually carried out by Sunni militants, including those linked to Al-Qaeda. Four suicide bombers struck in various parts of northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing four people.

In the other attacks on Saturday, gunmen killed a teacher at a primary school in the north Iraq city of Mosul, while a roadside bomb killed two soldiers and wounded two more south of the city, officers and doctors said.

And in Tikrit, also north of Baghdad, gunmen killed Sabhan al-Ajili, the owner of a money exchange shop, police and a doctor said.

Violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak at the height of the sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first four months of this year.