May 14 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 1245 GMT on Wednesday:

MOSUL - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to the northern city of Mosul to take charge of a big offensive against al Qaeda in what the U.S. military says is the Sunni Islamist militant group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq.

BAGHDAD - Five people were killed and 22 wounded in clashes between Shi'ite gunmen and security forces overnight in the eastern Baghdad slum of Sadr City, the two main hospitals there said. They gave no further details.

BAGHDAD - Two people were killed and six wounded overnight in clashes between U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militiamen in the western Shula district of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three people were killed and seven wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near the convoy of Abdul-Kareem al- Samarrai, a prominent figure in the Iraqi Islamic Party, one of three Sunni Arab factions forming the Iraqi Accordance Front, police said. Al-Samarrai was not hurt but two of his guards were wounded.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded in western Baghdad near the headquarters of the Iraqi Islamic Party, killing two people and wounding 15, police said.

SAMARRA - Police said they killed four insurgents who were trying to plant a bomb on the road near the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A civilian and four Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol close to the al-Shaab national stadium in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in northwestern Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - The bodies of three people were found in Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

(Compiled by Aseel Kami, Editing by Tim Cocks)

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