Attacks in Iraq including a string of bombings against Shiite places of worship and a car bomb at a Kurdish political office killed at least 17 people and wounded at least 77 on Sunday, officials said.

Two car bombs and seven roadside bombs exploded near two Shiite places of worship, known as husseiniyahs, in the northern city of Kirkuk, while a magnetic "sticky bomb" targeted a policeman near the city, police said.

Sadiq Omar Rasul, the head of the Kirkuk health directorate, put the toll from the various attacks at 13 killed and 57 wounded.

Oil-rich and ethnically mixed Kirkuk is part of a swathe of territory in northern Iraq that the autonomous Kurdistan region wants to incorporate, over the strong objections of Baghdad.

Also on Sunday, a car bomb exploded at the local headquarters of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party in the town of Jalawla in northeastern Diyala province after a number of people seeking to join the Kurdish peshmerga security forces had gathered there, a police officer said.

The blast in Jalawla, which like Kirkuk lies in disputed territory, killed two recruits and wounded 13, the officer and a doctor at Jalawla Hospital said.

Territorial disputes in northern Iraq are the greatest threat to the country's long-term stability, diplomats and officials say. Ties between Baghdad and Kurdistan are also marred by disputes over oil and power-sharing.

In Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, gunmen armed with automatic weapons attacked an army checkpoint, killing at least two soldiers and wounding at least three, an interior ministry official and a police officer said.

And a car bomb wounded a policeman and three civilians in Baiji, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of the capital, security and medical sources said.

While violence has decreased significantly from its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks still occur almost every day in Iraq.

British doctor 'acted dishonestly' over Iraqi's death
London (AFP) Dec 16, 2012 - The British army doctor who confirmed the death of Baha Mousa in Basra in 2003 was found by a tribunal on Sunday to have been "dishonest" about the injuries the Iraqi civilian received during his detention.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) ruled that Derek Keilloh, who now works as a general practitioner in northeastern England, was guilty of "misleading" and "dishonest" conduct following the 26-year-old hotel receptionist's death.

Mousa was hooded, assaulted and held in stress positions along with nine other Iraqis following their detention by 1st Battalion the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (1QLR) in September 2003, an inquiry last year said.

The father of two died 36 hours after his arrest having sustained 93 separate injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose.

Keilloh was the senior medic on duty and maintained during a subsequent interview, court martial and a later public inquiry that when he found Mousa, he was unaware of any injuries other than old dried blood around his nose.

But the MPTS found that the doctor had been aware of the Iraqi's injuries from his own observations and from information by other medical staff.

Keilloh subsequently failed to conduct an examination of the Iraqi's body or to act to ensure the welfare of other civilian detainees, and also failed to notify a superior officer of what had happened, the tribunal found.

The MPTS will on Monday begin deliberating whether Keilloh is subsequently fit to practice as a doctor, with a decision due this week. If he is found unfit, it will assess whether he should be struck off the medical register.

Mousa's death, which the army admitted had cast a "dark shadow" over its reputation, was determined to have resulted from his injuries and his weakened physical state caused by his mistreatment, the extreme heat and a lack of food and water.