Attacks in Iraq killed nine people Sunday, exactly a month ahead of parliamentary polls that remain in disarray after the mass resignations of election commissioners last week.

Attacks in Iraq killed nine people Sunday, exactly a month ahead of parliamentary polls that remain in disarray after the mass resignations of election commissioners last week.

The violence came hours after seven soldiers were shot dead at a checkpoint in a late-night attack by militants in the north, the latest sign of a months-long surge in bloodshed that has killed nearly 500 people so far this month.

A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives on a major bridge in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad where security forces are still grappling to retain full control after militants took over several neighbourhoods two months ago.

The blast killed seven people and wounded 10 more, and also badly damaged the Hauz Bridge, a key crossing used by civilians connecting the north and south of the city.

Ramadi originally had five bridges across the Euphrates River before a militant surge earlier this year.

But two are used exclusively by security forces, and two others -- including the Hauz Bridge -- have been damaged to the point they can no longer be used.

Civilians in Ramadi are now able to use only the Albu Faraj bridge in the north of the city.

Elsewhere on Sunday, two police officers were killed by a roadside bomb that exploded near their car in Tikrit north of Baghdad.

The attacks came just hours after militants opened fire on an army checkpoint near the restive northern city of Mosul, killing seven soldiers in a late-night attack.

In Mosul city itself, gunmen also killed a doctor.