Attacks mostly targeting Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad killed seven people on Thursday, security and medical officials said

Attacks mostly targeting Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad killed seven people on Thursday, security and medical officials said, the latest in an uptick in nationwide violence.
  
Near the main northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed two brothers -- a policeman and a soldier -- inside their home, according to officials. The soldier was a bodyguard for Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi.
  
Also close to Mosul, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded one other.
  
And just north of Baghdad, separate shootings and bombings in Balad and Dujail left three people dead, including two anti-Qaeda militiamen, and seven people wounded.