Roadside bomb kills 9 Iraqi soldiers

BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A roadside bomb exploded on the outskirts of Mosul Wednesday, killing nine Iraqi soldiers and injuring six others, police said.

The off-duty soldiers were on their way home in a minibus when the incident occurred, the BBC reported.

Violence has spiked in Iraq in recent months with most of the attacks targeting Iraqi soldiers and police.

At least seven civilians were killed earlier in the day during a security operation by U.S. and Iraqi armed forces west of Baghdad near Fallujah.

Authorities said one of those killed had been a colonel in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein.