Story highlights

Mosul, Kirkuk and the capital of Baghdad are all the scenes of deadly violence on Monday

A car bomb in Mosul claims the lives of five people, including two soldiers

Iraqi security forces are conducting a large-scale operation against al Qaeda

CNN  — 

At least 13 people were killed in explosions and shootings in three of Iraq’s most strategic cities on Monday, police officials said.

The deadliest incident was in the southeastern part of Mosul, where a car bomb exploded by Iraqi army convoy. Five people were killed, including two Iraqi soldiers, in the neighborhood of al-Muharbeen.

In the eastern part of Mosul, three people were shot dead by gunmen in two separate shootings.

Mosul, which is in Nineveh province, has a largely Sunni population and is about 420 kilometers (about 261 miles) north of Baghdad.

And in the capital of Baghdad, a man and his son were shot dead by gunmen in the al-Jaara neighborhood in the southern part of the city.

In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, gunmen attacked a group of men in a shooting area in al-Naser in eastern Kirkuk and killed three people. Four other people were wounded.

Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed city of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen and is about 240 kilometers (about 149 miles) north of Baghdad.

Casualties mount at alarming rate in Iraq

Monday’s attacks come as Iraqi security forces are conducting a large-scale operation, “The Revenge for the Martyrs,” which is attempting to track down al Qaeda members in and around Baghdad.

The operation started few days ago, and so far, hundreds of people have been arrested, according to the Baghdad Operation military command website.

An al Qaeda group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks in July on two Iraqi prisons that a lawmaker said freed more than 500 inmates, including some senior members of the militant group.

July was the deadliest month in Iraq since the peak of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007.

According to figures released by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, 1,057 Iraqis were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in July.

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