Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Dozens killed in Iraq bomb attacks




At least 50 people have been killed in a series of bombings in central Iraq, police and medical officials say.
Sixteen died in an attack on a funeral for a pro-government Sunni militiaman in a village south of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province.
Eight car bombs meanwhile exploded across Baghdad, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens more.
There has been a surge in sectarian violence across Iraq in the past year, reaching levels not seen since 2007.
The United Nations says 7,818 civilians and 1,050 members of the security forces died in 2013. December alone saw at least 759 killed.
'Long battle'
In Wednesday's deadliest incident, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a funeral tent in the village of Buhriz where mourners were marking the death two days ago of a member of a local Sahwa, or Awakening Council, set up Sunni Arab tribesmen to fight al-Qaeda.
The car bomb attacks that shook Baghdad started at about 10:30 (07:30) and continued for about an hour, striking busy markets in mostly in predominantly Shia districts of the capital but also in confessionally-mixed areas.
Five shoppers were killed and 12 others wounded when a car blew up at an outdoor market in the northern Shula district, police officials said. In nearby Shaab, a car bombing killed four civilians and wounded 14.
Two car bomb blasts in separate locations in the central area of Karrada meanwhile killed six civilians and wounded 24. Another four were killed in the southern suburb of Husseiniya, while three died in Maamil, to the east.