Violence in Iraq killed two people on Sunday, officials said, while six militants also died in a series of attempted attacks, the latest in a nationwide surge in unrest.

Violence in Iraq killed two people on Sunday, officials said, while six militants also died in a series of attempted attacks, the latest in a nationwide surge in unrest.

On Baghdad's southern outskirts, gunmen launched a pre-dawn attack on a local tribal militia leader, sparking clashes that left the militiaman's brother and two of the attackers dead, police and a medical source said.

From late 2006 onwards, Sahwa military groups has been fighting Al-Qaeda, helping to turn the tide of Iraq's insurgency.

North of the capital, a bombing targeting an army patrol killed one soldier and wounded three others, officials said, while clashes between police and militants in the disputed city of Kirkuk left a gunman dead while another was arrested and a third escaped.

Three insurgents also died in the northern town of Tuz Khurmatu when a car bomb they were moving to an attack site went off by mistake with the militants inside, town Mayor Shallal Abdul said.

A fourth militant, also inside the vehicle, was wounded.

"God foiled a massacre that was about to happen today," Abdul said.

Before the bomb went off, the attackers detonated "sound bombs" in a bid to distract security forces.

The unrest is the latest in a protracted surge in bloodshed that has pushed violence to its highest level since 2008.