BAGHDAD, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 23 people were killed and 43 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq on Thursday, the interior ministry and police sources said.

Four civilians were killed and five others wounded Thursday evening when a car bomb exploded in the Askari district of northern Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, spokesman for the Interior Ministry Brigadier General Saad Maan said in statement.

In the town of Yathrib, about 80 km north of Baghdad, some unidentified gunmen manning a fake checkpoint stopped a car driven by a police officer and his wife and then killed them, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The gunmen also stopped another car and killed all four men in it, the source added.

Three people were killed and two others were injured when a roadside bomb targeting municipal workers went off in Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km north of Baghdad, the police source said.

Earlier in the day, a series of bombing and shooting attacks killed a total of ten people and wounded 36 others in Baghdad and nearby provinces of Salahudin, Babil and Wasit, police said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, almost 7, 000 Iraqis were killed and over 16,000 others injured from January to October this year.