Four soldiers killed in Iraq attacks

Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed and 22 people wounded in a series of bomb attacks in northern and central Iraq, security officials say.

In the first and deadliest attack on Thursday, three soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded when militants detonated an explosive-rigged car near an army base in al-Sharqat, 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Baghdad in Salahuddin province, AFP quoted a police officer as saying on condition of anonymity.

In Fallujah, just west of the capital, one soldier was killed and five others, including two civilians, were wounded when a bomb on a parked motorcycle detonated near an army checkpoint north of the city.

In a separate attack in eastern Fallujah, five people, including three policemen, were wounded by a roadside bomb which targeted another checkpoint.

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq claimed responsibility for this week's deadly car bomb attack on the offices of Saudi-funded al-Arabiya TV channel in Baghdad that killed four people.

"The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the al-Qaeda-front in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the July 26th suicide bombing that struck the offices of al-Arabiya Television in Baghdad,” the SITE monitoring group said, citing an online statement by the militants.