MOSUL, (AFP) – Separate shootings in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul on Saturday left three people dead, including a local councillor, security and medical officials said.

In one attack, gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in Mosul, 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Baghdad, killing a policeman and a civilian, said police First Lieutenant Mohammed al-Juburi and Dr Mahmud Haddad at Mosul General Hospital.

In another incident, city councillor Ibrahim Yunis was gunned down outside his home in southeastern Mosul, according to Juburi and Khaled al-Rifaie, a doctor at the hospital’s morgue.

Security and medical officials also reported four Iraqi soldiers, including a colonel, were wounded in a gun attack on their patrol near the town of Dhuluiyah, north of Baghdad, on Friday evening.

The unrest takes to 246 the number of people killed in attacks nationwide this month, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials.

Violence in Iraq is markedly lower than its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad and Mosul.