BAGHDAD (AP) — Car bombings and shootings killed nine people across Iraq on Sunday, authorities said, as militants kidnapped soldiers in an embattled province where al-Qaida-linked fighters hold portions of two major cities.

Kirkuk deputy police chief Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef said three car bombs exploded Sunday afternoon simultaneously in separate residential neighborhoods. Youssef said the blasts killed four people and wounded 14.