Multiple Car Bomb Attacks Hit Iraqi Cities

At least 42 people have been killed and many others injured in a series of car bomb attacks in central and southern Iraq, officials say.

Baghdad was worst hit, with eight explosions at bus stations and markets in mainly Shia Muslim districts of the capital.

Two bombs went off earlier in the day in the southern city of Basra.

The attacks come amid a recent rise in violence in Iraq linked to growing political and sectarian tension.

Police said 175 people were injured in Monday’s violence in Iraq, with more than half the dead – at least 25 – in Baghdad.

The bombs in Basra, a mainly Shia Muslim city, killed at least 14 outside a restaurant and the main bus station.

“We were sitting here waiting for work and as usual we gathered near a street food cart and the place was very crowded,” Basra resident Mohammed Ali, who was near one of the blasts, told Reuters news agency.

“I crossed the street to the other side when all of a sudden it turned dark, dust filled the area. I was showered with metal wreckage and wounded in my legs.”
A further three people were killed in an attack in Samara, and 15 wounded.

In a separate incident, 10 policemen kidnapped on Saturday in western Anbar province have been found dead.

No group has said it carried out Monday’s bomb attacks, but tension between the Shia Muslim majority, which leads the government, and minority Sunnis has been growing since last year.

Sunni demonstrators have accused the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of discriminating against them – something the government denies.

BBC

Posted by Editor on May 20, 2013. Filed under WORLD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry