( CNN ) -- Armed confrontations and roadside bombs made for a bloody day in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday , claiming the lives of at least 16 people -- including militants who died in a battle with the Iraqi army , police in Mosul said . The army killed 10 members of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and detained 16 others in a security operation in southern Mosul , according to Gen. Mehdi al-Garawi , commander of federal police in predominantly Sunni Muslim Nineveh province . In western Mosul , three police officers were killed and six others were wounded when several roadside bombs exploded near police patrols , police officials said . Also in western Mosul , gunmen fatally shot a civilian while he was driving a car Wednesday , Mosul police said . And in eastern Mosul , Iraqi soldiers killed two gunmen who tried to attack an army checkpoint , police in the city said . Iraq has been engulfed in violence for many months . The United Nations said 2013 was the deadliest year in Iraq since 2008 , with almost 8,000 people killed in violence , most of them civilians . Fears of all-out sectarian war have increased since fighting broke out recently to the west of Baghdad in Anbar province , where al Qaeda-backed militants and Iraq 's security forces have been battling for control of Falluja and Ramadi . Mosul , the capital of Nineveh province , is about 400 kilometers ( 250 miles ) north of Baghdad . CNN 's Jason Hanna contributed to this report .
Iraqi army killed 10 al Qaeda-linked militants in southern Mosul , federal police official says . The militant group has been fighting for control of the city since last year and is now under siege by government forces backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Soldiers killed two gunmen who tried to attack an army checkpoint , according to police . Gunmen killed a civilian driver , police say .