Insurgents Wednesday attacked government facilities and security forces in Hawijah city in Iraq's oil-rich province of Kirkuk with mortars and car bombs, killing 15 people and wounding 30 others.

 

 The attacks occurred at noon in Hawijah, some 60 km west of the capital city of Kirkuk, when insurgents blew up a car bomb near a police station, Xinhua reported.

 

 Two suicide car bombers then struck the entrance of the city council building and another police station, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

 In the meantime, six mortar rounds landed on the police headquarters near the city council building, the source said, adding that the assaults were immediately followed by an attack by dozens of gunmen on the city council buildings, sparking fierce clashes with the security forces.

 

 The attacks left 15 people dead, including seven civilians, and 30 others injured, according to the source.

 

 Iraqi security forces, which have re-taken control of the security situation in the city, are conducting search operations for possible remaining militants. 

 

 Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to full blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007 when the monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000. 

 

IANS