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BAGHDAD (AP) Attacks across Iraq, including a series of bombings targeting shoppers in a Sunni neighborhood in the country's capital, killed at least 16 people Saturday, authorities said.

The deadliest attacks struck Baghdad's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora. Saturday morning, police said two bombs exploded on busy commercial streets, killing four people. That night, police said three more bomb blasts in the same area killed five people and wounded 10.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts, though Shiite militants have retaliated in the past for Sunni insurgent groups killing their own. The Sunni-led violence, part of a series of stepped-up attacks since last year, aims at undermining Iraq's Shiite-led government ahead of a crucial vote later this month.

Outside of Baghdad, police said a suicide bomber killed five soldiers and wounded eight at a checkpoint in Mishada, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the capital. Also Saturday, police said a roadside bomb killed two soldiers on patrol and wounded five people in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad.

Health officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Last year, Iraq weathered its deadliest bout of violence since it pulled back from the brink of civil war in 2008. United Nations figures show that violence killed 8,868 people in 2012.

Saturday's attacks also come as Iraq is heading toward a crucial parliamentary election on April 30, its first since the 2011 U.S. troop pullout.

More than 9,000 candidates will vie for 328 seats in parliament, but there will be no balloting in parts of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, which is engulfed in clashes between security forces and al-Qaida-inspired militants. The militants have seized and are continuing to hold parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi, and nearly all of the nearby city of Fallujah.

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Bombs targeting soldiers, shoppers kill 16 in Iraq

Prospective female lawmakers push for greater awareness of women's rights in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - With fears that women's rights are being eroded in Iraq, prospective female lawmakers are determined to push women's issues to the fore of campaigning for this month's elections.

Despite a constitutional requirement that a quarter of all MPs be women, Iraq lags on key indicators such as female employment and literacy, and there is a bill before parliament that opponents say dramatically curtails women's rights.

Also at issue ahead of April 30 elections are high levels of violence against women, discrimination at the workplace, and poor school attendance.

"I did not expect that we will fight for women's rights in this country," said Inam Abdul Majed, a television news presenter and an election hopeful running in Baghdad.

"I wanted to fight for better education, better services, better life conditions... But we are in this big trouble now, and it is a primary problem to be solved."

Decades ago, Iraq was seen as the most progressive country in the Middle East for women, but now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein rolled back many of those advances in the 1990s, and the rampant bloodshed that followed his ouster in 2003 has led to further restrictions.

Now, more than a quarter of women over the age of 12 are illiterate and only 85 girls attend secondary school for every 100 boys, according to a May 2013 UN fact sheet.

Among the most troubling indicators is the fact that only 14 percent of Iraqi women are either working or actively seeking employment.

"It's a serious issue, because it affects women's financial independence and, without financial independence, women have very few choices in their lives," said Frances Guy, the Iraq representative for UN Women.

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Female candidates fight for rights in Iraq campaign

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