27 killed in attacks across Iraq

Shootings and explosions throughout Iraq on Sunday killed at least 27 people and injured more than 60 others, police said. In one attack, police said, a hidden bomb detonated inside a popular coffee shop in northeastern Baghdad's predominantly Shiite al-Shaab neighborhood. The blast killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20 others, police said. Another attack occurred near the northern city of Mosul, police there said, when gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying Iraqi soldiers, killing five. Last month was the deadliest month in Iraq in the last five years since the peak of sectarian violence in 2006 and 2007. According to the United Nations, 1,057 Iraqis were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in July. The bloodshed appears to mark a new round of violence to hit Iraq in recent months, much of it stemming from decades-old discord between the nation's Sunnis and Shiites, the two largest branches of Islam. Sunnis have felt politically marginalized under a Shiite- led government since the ouster of longtime leader Saddam Hussein in a 2003 U.S.-led invasion. READ: Bombings, bloodshed mar end of Ramadan in Iraq