Fresh violence in Iraq has killed at least 15 people, including 12 security force personnel and gunmen who died in attacks apparently launched in revenge for deadly clashes at a protest, officials have said.
Fighting between security forces and protesters near the northern town of Hawija left 27 people dead on Tuesday, and sparked a wave of revenge attacks in which a further 27 people were killed that day.
The revenge attacks continued on Wednesday, leaving nine security forces members and three gunmen dead.
In the deadliest fighting, gunmen killed five soldiers and wounded five more in the Suleiman Bek, area north of Baghdad, a high-ranking army officer and an administrative official said.
Gunmen also attacked a Sahwa militia checkpoint in Khales, northeast of Baghdad, killing four of the militiamen and wounding a fifth, a police lieutenant colonel and a doctor said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Jane Arraf, reporting near the disputed city of Kirkuk, said the Iraqi government said earlier on Wednesday that it is setting up a commission to investigate the string of attacks that erupted the day before.
Soldiers released
Also on Wednesday, a-government protesters released two Iraqi soldiers they had seized near Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a protest organiser said.
Abdulrazzaq al-Shammari, one of the organisers of the protests near Ramadi, said on Wednesday the two soldiers were turned over to a hospital in the city on Tuesday.
The soldiers were taken after deadly clashes between security forces and demonstrators in north Iraq left dozens dead and sparked a wave of revenge attacks.
He also said the demonstrators were demanding that Iraqi soldiers withdraw from all cities in Anbar province, where Ramadi is located, and remain in their main bases.
Dr Ahmed al-Ani, the director of the emergency department at the Ramadi hospital, said the facility had received two soldiers. One was wounded and still in hospital, while the second was released.
Police first lieutenant Ibrahim Faraj said on Tuesday that armed protesters killed six Iraqi soldiers near Ramadi and burned two armoured personnel carriers, but put the number of kidnapped soldiers at one instead of two.
Protesters have taken to the streets in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq for more than four months, calling for the resignation of Maliki and decrying the alleged targeting of their minority community by the Shiite-led authorities.
Clashes and attacks involving security forces, protesters and their supporters left 54 people dead across the country in the worst day of violence since the demonstrations began.
