Baghdad ( CNN ) -- The mayor of the Iraqi city of Falluja was shot to death while bombings there , in Baghdad and in another city killed 24 more people Wednesday , police reported . Adnan al-Jalbawi , Falluja 's mayor for the past three years , died in a burst of gunfire while visiting a sewage pumping station , police officials in Anbar province reported . One of the mayor 's bodyguards was critically wounded as well , the officials said . There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack , police said . Iraq 's Shiite-led government has blamed other recent killings on Sunni extremists loyal to al Qaeda in Iraq , and the Anbar provincial council voted to fire police commander Gen. Hadi Azraiej on Wednesday due to the deteriorating security situation there . Meanwhile , separate attacks in Baghdad and Baquba , to the north , each killed 10 people , police said . The Baquba bombing targeted pilgrims gathering for the Shiite religious commemoration of Ashura , the holiest day of the Shiite calendar . Ashura commemorations were frequent targets of jihadist attacks in the years following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 . The 2012 commemoration was the first since the invasion to pass without significant violence . In Baghdad , Shiite pilgrims and security forces were among the targets of gunfire and more bombs , which left 10 dead and 17 wounded in six separate incidents , police said . Back in Falluja , bombs destroyed two houses belonging to police officers on the city 's east side -- and when onlookers gathered around the homes , which were empty at the time , a second bomb exploded , police said . That blast left four people dead and 14 wounded , women and children among them , they said . They 're the latest victims of the fighting that has persisted in Iraq since the final withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of 2011 . Nearly 6,000 people have been killed so far this year , according to the United Nations . Falluja , about 60 kilometers ( 37 miles ) west of Baghdad , was a hotbed of resistance to the U.S. occupation of Iraq . American troops fought two major battles to reclaim the city from insurgents in 2004 .
NEW : Baghdad attacks targeted Shiite pilgrims , security forces . Falluja 's mayor was shot to death while visiting a sewage plant . Bombings in Falluja , Baghdad and Baquba kill 24 more . Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in attacks across Iraq this year , the U.N. says .