At least 22 dead in Iraq violence

MOSUL, Iraq, May 24 (UPI) -- Iraq was ripped by violence Sunday with a string of attacks leaving at least 22 people dead and dozens wounded, authorities said.

A police official told The New York Times a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden van in Mosul, killing eight people and wounding 26. The attack, which wiped out a restaurant and several shops, appeared to have been meant for U.S. soldiers but none of them were hurt, the Times said.

Others were killed in roadside bombings, drive-by shootings, ambushes and execution-style slayings Mosul and Fallujah.

The dead included a 2-month-old baby in a house struck by a hand grenade, police said.

Despite the rash of violence, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, spokesman for the Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, and Maj. Gen. David Perkins, spokesman for the U.S. military, said the overall trend has been fewer and less deadly attacks. Atta said the current rate is about 20-25 attacks per week, down from a high of 450 in 2007.

"We have not witnessed a direct confrontation since 2007 on Iraqi security forces," Atta said.

Perkins agreed the overall picture has improved.

"From a macro point of view the attacks trend down," he said.