Iraqi security forces said on Tuesday they killed 44 insurgents of the so-called ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Levant’ near Baghdad, as terrorist attacks left 12 people dead, weeks ahead of parliamentary elections.

Iraqi security forces said on Tuesday they killed 44 insurgents of the so-called ‘Islamic State in Iraq and Levant’ near Baghdad, as terrorist attacks left 12 people dead, weeks ahead of parliamentary elections.

Soldiers killed 25 militants in an ambush southwest of Baghdad, the capital's security spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.

Maan said the fighters were part of al-Qaeda affiliated group ISIL and that they were planning to attack an army base that they had attempted to hit last week.

In Fallujah, the Iraqi army shelled two headquarters where ISIL commanders were holding a meeting, claiming 19 terrorists.

Elsewhere in Iraq on Tuesday, attacks north of the capital killed 19 people, security and medical officials said, while three others were killed by a similar attack in Mishahda, just north of Baghdad.

Shootings and bombings in and around Baquba, Tikrit, Baiji and Mosul left six others dead.

A car bomb set off by a suicide attacker at a checkpoint in the restive city of Tuz Khurmatu killed four policemen, while attacks also struck against Baiji and Tikrit in Salaheddin province.