At least seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen have been killed, and another 20 injured, in attacks on security checkpoints across the capital Baghdad.
Reports said armed men used silenced weapons to fire on six checkpoints early on Monday, in apparently coordinated attacks, while bombs were planted at three others.
The attacks - all executed around dawn - showed a new tactic being used by fighters in the country, the Reuters news agency cited an interior ministry spokesman as saying.
"This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere," he said.
Rising violence
The attacks come just two days after reports that the Iraqi defense ministry was considering building a "security fence "around the capital as a way of curbing violence and controlling the movements of anti-government fighters.
Access to the city would be controlled by eight checkpoints, and construction could be completed by mid-2011, reports from local broadcaster Al Iraqiyya Television said.
National parliamentary elections on March 7 left no clear winner, and continuing wrangling by political blocs to form a governable coalition have left an atmosphere of instability in the country.
PHOTO CAPTION
A policeman stands guard near a damaged vehicle at the site of a bomb attack that took place on Wednesday, in southern Baghdad April 29, 2010.
Al-Jazeera