BAGHDAD: Militants unleashed a wave of suicide attacks across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

The deadliest attack took place in the southern province of Dhi Qar (also known as Nasiriyah) when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a restaurant that is frequented by Shiite paramilitary militia fighters, killing at least 14 people.

Another 27 people were wounded in the attack on the well-known restaurant, which is located on the main highway that links the capital, Baghdad, with the southern provinces, a police officer said.

At around the same time, a suicide car bomber set off his explosives-laden vehicle in a commercial area in the oil-rich city of Basra, killing at least five people and wounding 10 others, another police officer said.

Pieces of flesh and debris littered the bloodstained pavement as thick black smoke billowed from the area. The attack also damaged up to 30 cars.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a security checkpoint in the capital’s northeastern suburb of Sadr Al-Qanat, killing six troops and wounding 13 others.

Another suicide car bomber hit a headquarters of paramilitary troops in the town of Mishahda, 30 km north of Baghdad, killing four troops and wounding 10 others.

Iraqi officials said troops on Monday recaptured a key village outside Mosul after days of heavy fighting. Iraqi forces retook the village of Al-Nasr, near the Tigris river, after destroying six suicide car bombers that had tried to attack them, Lt. Col. Mohammed Al-Wagaa of the Iraqi army said.

Meanwhile, aircraft from a US-led coalition on Monday destroyed the Turkish consulate compound in Mosul in northern Iraq, which has been occupied by Daesh since June 2014, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

It said in a written statement that Turkey’s views had been sought and its approval given for the airstrikes, which were carried out at 3 a.m.