BAGHDAD  - Hamed al-Mutlak, a Sunni MP and brother to one of Iraq’s deputy prime ministers, said he survived a roadside bomb attack west of Baghdad on Saturday that wounded at least one of his guards. “A roadside bomb exploded on the main road in Abu Ghraib when we passed,” Mutlak, an MP in the secular, Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, told AFP, adding that one of his bodyguards was lightly wounded. An interior ministry official confirmed the attack, saying the bomb exploded while Mutlak’s convoy passed Al-Nasr Wa al-Salam village in the Abu Ghraib area, putting the toll at two guards wounded.
 It was unclear if the attack was aimed at Mutlak personally, or if his convoy was just a target of opportunity for insurgents. Official figures put the number of people killed in attacks in July at 325, the highest monthly death toll since August 2010. While violence has decreased compared to its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain common across Iraq. There were attacks on 27 of the 31 days in July.