Baghdad, Dec 3 (DPA) At least 11 people were killed and 39 others injured Wednesday when bombs hit a primary school and a checkpoint in the Iraqi cities of Nineveh and Mosul, security sources said.The bomb in Mosul ripped through a primary school, killing four children and injuring 12, the sources said. The restive city of Mosul is located some 400 km north of Baghdad.

While security had relatively improved in many provinces across Iraq, Mosul remains a challenge for the US and Iraqi forces, with violent attacks almost on a daily basis.

In Nineveh city, 48 km north of Baghdad, a car bomb hit a check point, killing at least seven people, including a policeman. Twenty-seven people were injured in the explosion. Most of the casualties were Shia Turkomans, a security source told DPA.

Also in Mosul, a 13-year-old Iraqi girl has escaped kidnappers who planned to use her as a suicide attacker, the US Army said.

The girl sought the protection of Iraqi troops at a roadblock near the city of Mosul, the Army said.

The girl said her abductors were “bad men” who had hidden her in the boot of a car, the US Army said.

They intended to blow her up as a “martyr” at an Iraqi Army checkpoint, she said, according to the army.