Bombings and shootings killed at least 18 people in Iraq on Wednesday, among them a senior army officer, security and medical officials said.

The violence is the latest in a wave of unrest that has killed more than 560 people so far in May and raised fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict.

Two bombs exploded in a commercial area of west Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding at least 15, while another bomb in the capital's south killed at least six people and wounded at least 21, officials said.

In Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, gunmen shot dead an army brigadier general at his home, while two roadside bombs exploded near a football field in Baquba, north of the capital, killing one person and wounding nine.

Gunmen also killed an anti-Qaeda militia leader southwest of the northern city of Kirkuk, and a roadside bomb north of the city of Tikrit targeted the governor of Salaheddin province's convoy, wounding four of his guards.

AFP