Seven people were killed, including an anti-terror police chief, in bomb attacks on houses in the town of Heet in Iraq's western province of Anbar on Thursday, a provincial police source said.

Early on Thursday morning, insurgents blew up three houses of two police officers, including Major Walid al-Heeti, chief of the town's anti-terror office, and a lawyer, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The blasts killed al-Heeti, another police officer and the lawyer, along with four others, including two children, the source said.

Seven people were also wounded by the blasts, most of whom were women and children, the source added.

The blasts also caused severe damages to two more houses which were very close to two of the three bombed houses, he said.

Authorities in the town imposed traffic ban and blocked the entrances of the town, as dozens of Iraqi security forces were deployed on main streets and intersections while dozens others were carrying out search operations in the town, he added.

Insurgent attacks increased recently in the once volatile province of Anbar, which had been relatively calm for more than two years after Sunni tribes and anti-U.S. insurgent groups turned to cooperate with the U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces against al-Qaida in Iraq network.