Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on Sunday for joint Sunni-Shiite prayers after a spate of attacks on places of worship, saying the attackers wanted to ignite sectarian strife in Iraq. "I call for holding joint prayers... in one of the large Baghdad mosques" each Friday, Maliki said in a statement. "Those who target mosques are enemies of Sunnis and Shiites alike, and are planning to ignite (sectarian) strife," he said.

Bombings in Iraq, including two car bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk, killed 10 people and wounded 21 others on Wednesday, security and medical officials said. The first bombing in Kirkuk was the deadliest of the attacks, killing eight people and wounding eight, while a second car bomb exploded nearby, wounding seven more, officials said. In Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding four people, while a roadside bomb in the north Iraq city of Mosul killed another policeman and wounded two.

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.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed in three bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, medics and police said. Two car bombs exploded near police checkpoints at the entrance to the Shi'ite district of Hussainiya in the north of the city, killing one policeman and seven civilians. A third bomb near a restaurant frequented by police killed three civilians in the southern district of Doura, medics and police said.