BAQUBA, Iraq, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Sixteen people were wounded in four separate roadside bomb attacks in the volatile province of Diyala in northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, a provincial police source said.

    A roadside bomb exploded on Thursday morning near the convoy of Ahmad Thamer al-Zarkoshi, mayor of the town of Saadiyah, some 120 km northeast of Baghdad, wounding Zarkoshi and five of his bodyguards, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    Three pedestrians were also wounded by the blast that damaged two of the convoy's vehicles, the source said.

    Also in the town, another roadside bomb struck the car of an Iraqi Army officer, wounding him and two of his sons who were in the car, the source added.

    Separately, two Iraqi soldiers were wounded by a roadside bomb explosion in the town of Maqdadiyah, 100 km northeast of Baghdad, and two more civilians were wounded by a bomb explosion in a village east of the capital city of Baquba, he said.

    Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi forces captured six suspects, including two Shiite militiamen, during raids on insurgent hideouts in the province, he added.

    The attacks in the province came as Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops are conducting a major offensive dubbed "Glad Tidings" against militant groups and criminal gangs, days before the U.S. troops' pullout from Iraqi cities and towns.

    Diyala province, stretching from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border east of the country, has long been a stronghold for al-Qaida militants and other insurgent groups since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

    The U.S. troops are scheduled to leave Iraqi cities and towns by June 30, and to completely pullout from Iraq by December 31, 2011.

Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq