No fewer than 71 people have been
killed and 201 wounded in a series of
bombings and other attacks across
Baghdad, police and medical sources
said, the latest casualties in a
continuing wave of bloodshed. The northern neighbourhood of
Kadhimiyah, home to a prominent,
gold-domed Shia shrine, was the worst
hit. Two bombs went off in a parking lot,
followed by a suicide car bomber who
struck onlookers who had gathered at
the scene. Police said 10 people were
killed and 27 wounded in that attack. In Sadr City, an impoverished Shia
district in Baghdad’s northeast, two car
bombs killed seven people. A
restaurant owner said he saw an
attacker just before one of the
explosions. “A man parked his car in front of the
restaurant. He got breakfast and drank
his tea. Then I heard a huge explosion
when I was inside the kitchen,” the
owner, who requested anonymity, told
the Reuters news agency. “When I went outside, I saw his car
completely destroyed and he had
disappeared. Many people were hurt.” Another car bomb killed seven people
and wounded 23 in Jisr Diyala in
southeastern Baghdad, police and
medics said. The Interior Ministry described the
attacks as “terrorist explosions” but
said the number of people killed was
only 20, with 213 wounded. Baghdad
has said that media reports exaggerate
attacks in Iraq, and that security forces have stopped many attempted
bombings. If the higher death toll was correct,
Wednesday’s violence was worst since
August 10, when nearly 80 people were
killed during a religious holiday. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in
July, the highest monthly death toll
since 2008, according to the United
Nations. The renewed violence, 18 months after
US troops withdrew from Iraq, has
stirred anxiety about a relapse towards
the widespread sectarian slaughter of
2006-07. In other attacks on Wednesday,
gunmen killed six members of the
Sahwa, (“Awakening”) movement, a
group of former Sunni fighters who
rebelled against al-Qaeda. They were
attacked in an ambush on a checkpoint in Latifiya, a suburb 40km south of
Baghdad. Armed men also stormed a Shia home
in the same area, killing six family
members, police and medical sources
said. Four soldiers were killed and five were
wounded in Madaen, southeast of
Baghdad, by a roadside bomb targeting
an Iraqi army patrol, police and medics
said. After years of reduced violence, the
intensity of attacks has dramatically
risen since the start of 2013. Bombings have often targeted cafes
and other places where families gather,
as well as military facilities and
checkpoints.
