| 32 killed as two car bomb blasts rip through Baghdad |
BAGHDAD Two car bombs in the Iraqi capital killed at least 32 people and wounded dozens more on Saturday, near a mosque.
An interior ministry official said a car bomb exploded at about 12:15pm on a highway near Shuala in north Baghdad, killing 14 people and wounding 32, while a second car bomb exploded at the Aden intersection near Kadhimiyah about 2pm, killing 18 people and wounding 36.
Saturday’s car bombs exploded near Baghdad’s Kadhimiya district, scattering body parts and clothing.
With security around Kadhimiya district very tight for the festival, one bomber on Saturday posed as a taxi driver and picked up people to access the area.
“We rushed to the scene, there were dismembered bodies, shoes, plastic bags, women’s robes left all around, and people were screaming everywhere,” said Ahmed Maati, a policeman working nearby.
A medical source said Baghdad hospitals had received nine bodies and 47 wounded people from the first attack, and 25 bodies and 105 wounded from the second.
The attacks came as tens of thousands of people flocked to the Kadhimiyah area of the city for the climax of commemorations.
Fadhel Al Anbari, secretary-general of the mosque, said at a news conference that a total of six million people had participated in the commemorations, which began about a week ago.
On Wednesday, 72 people were killed and more than 250 wounded in bomb and gun attacks across the country, with Al Qaeda’s local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claiming responsibility.
Iraq’s Al Qaeda wing was weakened by its long war with US and Iraqi security forces, but since the last American troops left in December, the group and other insurgents have carried out a major attack about once a month this year.
Al Qaeda in Iraq often hits targets in an attempt to stir up the kind of sectarian tensions that drove Iraq to the edge of civil war and killed tens of thousands of people in 2006-07. They also target security forces to try to show the government is failing to stamp out violence.
Along with the security forces, the majority in Iraq has been a main target of Arab armed groups since the fall of Saddam’s regime.
Violence has declined dramatically since the 2006-07 peak of sectarian bloodshed, but attacks remain common, especially in Baghdad. A total of 132 Iraqis were killed in May, official figures show.
Agencies
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