71 dead in Iraq attacks including wedding bombing

Suicide bomber targets busy Baghdad cafe, killing 25 Fri, Aug 23 18:36 PM EDT By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 25 people and wounded more than 50 in Baghdad on Friday when he detonated his explosives inside a busy cafe near a park popular with families, police and medical sources said. It was one of the worst attacks in Iraq since suicide bombers hit the same district two months ago, targeting a Shi'ite mosque and killing 29 worshippers during noon prayers. Friday's bombing took place in al-Qahira, a northern district of the capital that is home to mainly Shi'ite Muslims. Children were among the casualties at the site, which is in an area with cafes and restaurants. The wounded had been taken to four different hospitals, the sources said. "There was a crowd of people, and the suicide bomber detonated himself right inside it. Most of the people were killed or injured by ball bearings from the device," police officer Ahmed Jassim said. His patrol heard the blast and arrived at the site to find people lying dead or injured on the ground in pools of blood. Police hesitated to help the wounded because they feared a second bomb, he said. In a separate attack in central Baghdad, gunmen on motorcycles shot dead four people who were in a car, police and health sources said. Iraqis have suffered extreme violence for years, but since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has dramatically increased. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in attacks in July, the worst monthly toll since 2008. Since the start of 2013, bomb attacks by mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents have increasingly targeted cafes and other places where families gather, as well as the usual targets of military facilities and checkpoints. Eighteen months since U.S. troops withdrew, deep-rooted sectarian tensions have been aggravated by the civil war in neighboring Syria and growing political divisions between Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish factions. (Additional reporting by Raheem Salman, Writing by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Ken Wills) =================== August 22, 2013 09:41 PM An Iraqi policeman inspects the remains of a car bomb that exploded outside the ministry of education in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on August 22, 2013. AFP PHOTO MARWAN IBRAHIM BAGHDAD: Attacks killed 18 people in Iraq Thursday, including six who died in a bombing against a wedding party, the latest in spiralling violence that comes despite wide-ranging operations targeting militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to press on with the anti-insurgent campaign, which is among the biggest since US forces withdrew in December 2011, but analysts and diplomats say authorities have failed to tackle the root causes of the violence. In Thursday's deadliest attack, a roadside bomb struck a wedding party in Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 22 others, officials said. The blast went off near the musicians who typically accompany wedding convoys in Iraq, but the bride and groom were unharmed. Dujail is a predominantly Shiite Muslim town, and while no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, Sunni militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda frequently target Shiites, whom they regard as apostates. The rest of Thursday's bloodshed, however, was largely concentrated in mostly Sunni Arab towns and cities to the north and west of Baghdad, areas that have been roiled in recent months by angry anti-government protests and are among Iraq's least stable. A suicide bomber detonated a tanker truck rigged with explosives at an army checkpoint along a highway in the western province of Anbar, killing four people, according to security and medical sources. The attack, which struck close to provincial capital Ramadi along the route connecting the city to the Syrian border, killed three soldiers and a civilian and wounded 14 others. Elsewhere, several gun and bomb attacks killed five people in the northern province of Nineveh, including three soldiers, and a bomb targeting a Sunni mosque in the restive city of Baquba killed two others. In the disputed city of Kirkuk, meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped and executed a lawyer. Violence has surged in Iraq this year to levels not seen since 2008 when the country was emerging from a brutal Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Attacks have killed at least 3,570 people since the beginning of 2013, according to figures compiled by AFP. Analysts and diplomats link the increased bloodshed to anger among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority over their alleged ill-treatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government. But the prime minister has vowed to press on with the security force operations, insisting they are producing results, pointing to the arrest of hundreds of alleged militants and the killing of dozens of others. Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Aug-22/228344-18-dead-in-iraq-attacks-including-wedding-bombing.ashx#ixzz2cp94Gp00 (The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb) =================== Bombs, shootings kill at least 47 across Iraq: police Sun, Aug 25 15:57 PM EDT image BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Car bombs, roadside bombs and shootings killed at least 47 people in Iraq on Sunday, police and medical sources said, as tensions intensify between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims across the Middle East. Sunni Muslim insurgents and the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq have significantly increased their attacks this year. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008, according to the United Nations. More than two years of civil war in neighboring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions and shaken Iraq's fragile coalition of Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions. The renewed violence, eighteen months after the last U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, has sparked fears of a return to the scale sectarian slaughter in 2006 and 2007. Iraqis have suffered extreme violence for years, but since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has dramatically increased. Bomb attacks have increasingly targeted cafes and other places where families gather, as well as the usual targets of military facilities and checkpoints. The biggest of Sunday's attacks took place in central Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad when a car bomb blew up near a housing complex, killing at least 11 people and wounding 34, police said. Earlier attacks included the killing of five soldiers in Qiyara town, some 290 km (180 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, when suspected militants ambushed two taxis taking soldiers from Baghdad to join their units in Mosul, military sources said. "One of the cars escaped the ambush but the second one could not and the militants shot dead five soldiers and burned their bodies after they killed them," a senior intelligence military officer, who declined to be named, said. A medical source at the morgue in Mosul confirmed the soldiers' bodies had been burned. Police said that seven people were also killed and 30 others were injured in two separate explosions in Madaen, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Another two explosions took place in commercial areas in western and northern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 45, police and medical sources said. A bomb stuck to a car killed three people and wounded four in eastern Baghdad, police and medical sources said. Earlier on Sunday, police said three people were killed and 15 wounded when a car bomb exploded in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad. Two people were shot dead near their homes in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Roadside bombs also killed two members of a displaced Shi'ite family who had recently returned to their home. The attack wounded nine others in central Baquba, police said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks but Sunni Islamist militants have been regaining momentum in their insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government in recent months, emboldened by the civil war in Syria. On Friday, a suicide bomber killed 25 people and wounded more than 50 in Baghdad when he detonated his explosives inside a busy cafe near a park. (Reporting by Ziad al-Sanjary in Mosul, Ghazwan Hassan in Tikrit and a Reuters reporter in Baquba; Writing by Suadad al-Salhy; Editing by Louise Ireland) ============= Series of attacks kill 51 across Baghdad: police, medics Wed, Aug 28 05:40 AM EDT 1 of 6 BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 51 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of bombings and attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday, police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of violence in Iraq in at least five years. In one of the worst incidents a car bomb killed seven people and wounded 23 in Jisr Diyala in southeastern Baghdad, police and medics said. A restaurant owner in Sadr City, a mostly Shi'ite district of Baghdad, described how a militant detonated a car bomb. "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 Reuters. "When I went outside, I saw his car completely damaged and he had disappeared. Many people were hurt," he said. Sunni Muslim insurgents and the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq have significantly increased their attacks this year. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, the highest monthly death toll since 2008, according to the United Nations. More than two years of civil war in neighboring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions and shaken Iraq's fragile coalition of Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions. The renewed violence, 18 months after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, has sparked fears of a return to the scale of sectarian slaughter in 2006 and 2007. In Latifiya, gunmen opened fire on six members of al-Sahwa - former Sunni insurgents who rebelled against al Qaeda - manning a checkpoint south of Baghdad. Gunmen also stormed a Shi'ite home in the same area, killing six family members, police and medical sources said. In Kadhimiya, a district in northwestern Baghdad, two roadside bombs and one car bomb killed five people and wounded nearly 30, the sources said. Four soldiers were killed and five were wounded in Madaen, southeast of Baghdad, by a roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, police and medics said. Iraqis have suffered extreme violence for years, but since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has dramatically increased. Bomb attacks have increasingly targeted cafes and other places where families gather, as well as the usual targets of military facilities and checkpoints. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem and Raheem Salman, writing by Sylvia Westall/Yara Bayoumy; editing by Sami Aboudi and Jon Boyle) ===================== Iraq bloodshed leaves 59 dead Iraqi civilians check the site of an explosion in Baghdad on August 28, 2013 .View gallery . . AFP Al-Nasir Bellah 31 minutes ago More than a dozen bombings ripped through Shiite neighbourhoods in and around Baghdad, the bloodiest in a wave of attacks Wednesday that killed 59 people across Iraq amid spiralling violence. The worst of the bloodshed struck the capital and surrounding areas in the form of a spate of apparently coordinated car bombs and suicide attacks targeting morning rush hour. Residents in one neighbourhood angrily reacted to one blast by chasing down a suspected attacker and killing him before setting his corpse ablaze. The unrest came despite widely publicised security operations targeting militants in Baghdad and to the north and west, though the government has faced criticism it is not dealing with the root causes of Iraq's worst violence since 2008. The spike in violence since the beginning of the year, with more than 3,700 people killed in 2013, has sparked concerns the country is teetering on the edge of a return to the brutal all-out sectarian war that plagued it in 2006 and 2007. Overall, violence in Baghdad and towns just south of the capital left 57 dead, while two others were killed in attacks in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. More than 190 people were wounded nationwide. "We are poor people, and all of our things have been burned, and our home has fallen to the ground," said Marwa, an 18-year-old resident of Shaab, a predominantly Shiite north Baghdad neighbourhood where four people were killed, and cars and nearby buildings were damaged by two car bombs. "The politicians are fighting over positions and not looking after us," she continued, crying as she spoke. "The people are homeless because of these explosions. Who is going to compensate us? Who is going to compensate the youth?" View gallery. "Iraqi civilians check the site of an explosion in Baghdad … Iraqi civilians check the site of an explosion in Baghdad on August 28, 2013. More than a dozen bomb …The deadliest attack, though, struck in the Jisr al-Diyala neighbourhood of southeast Baghdad, with at least nine people killed and 27 others wounded in twin bombings. After the blast, local residents ran down a man suspected of planting the second car bomb, stabbed him to death, set his corpse on fire and hung it from a lamppost, according to a police officer. Security forces later lowered it and carried it away, witnesses told AFP journalists at the scene. Another car bomb in the Baghdad Jadidah area, which left three dead, also badly damaged nearby cars and shopfronts, an AFP journalist said. Blasts also went off in other major Shiite neighbourhoods including Kadhimiyah and Sadr City, while five members of a Shiite family were shot dead in their home south of the capital. Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave varying tolls, which is common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings in Baghdad. The interior ministry, whose public casualty counts are typically markedly lower than those reported by hospital and security officials, said 20 people had died and more than 200 were wounded across the capital. Iraqi lawmakers and the UN mission to Baghdad, meanwhile, condemned the violence, with the UN's deputy special envoy noting that a "relentless wave of senseless killing has left thousands dead since April". No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaeda frequently carry out such coordinated attacks targeting Shiite Muslims, whom they regard as apostates. View gallery. "Iraqi security forces and civilians check the site … Iraqi security forces and civilians check the site of an explosion in Baghdad on August 28, 2013. Mo …Wednesday's attacks were the latest wave of coordinated bombings to hit Baghdad this month. On August 6, at least eight car bombs and several roadside blasts killed 31 people, while 47 people died in a spate of explosions and gun attacks in the capital on August 10. Five days later, 24 people died in nine bombings in Baghdad. Iraq has seen a marked rise in the level of violence since the beginning of the year, coinciding with demonstrations by the country's Sunni Arab minority against alleged ill treatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government and security forces. More than 600 people have already been killed so far this month, according to an AFP tally. Though diplomats and analysts have urged broad-reaching moves to tackle Sunni frustrations, which they say give militant groups room to recruit and carry out attacks, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to press on with an anti-militant campaign led by security forces. In recent weeks, officials say security forces have dismantled militant training camps and bomb-making sites, arrested hundreds of alleged insurgents and killed dozens of others. In addition to persistent security problems, though, the government has also failed to provide adequate basic services such as electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread. Political squabbling has also paralysed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years. ==================== Car bombs across Iraqi capital kill nearly 60 people Tue, Sep 03 17:27 PM EDT image By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A series of car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite districts, police and medics said. It was not immediately clear who had carried out the attacks, which appeared coordinated, but Sunni Islamist militants, including an al Qaeda affiliate, have been striking with a ferocity not seen in years. More than two years of civil war in neighboring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq, fraying an uneasy government coalition of Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish factions. Tuesday's deadliest single blast took place in Baghdad's northern Talbiya neighborhood, where a car bomb in a busy street killed nine people. In the Hussainiya district on the northern outskirts of the capital, two car bombs exploded in quick succession, killing ten. "I saw a fireball and a huge cloud of smoke. We couldn't approach immediately fearing a second bomb, but we could hear the screams of people asking for help," said Ali Jameel, a policeman in a patrol stationed in Hussainiya. "A minute later a second blast happened nearby. Bodies were lying on the ground and some of the wounded were crawling to distance themselves from the blaze, leaving a trail of blood behind them". About 800 Iraqis were killed in August, according to the United Nations, with more than a third of the deadly attacks happening in Baghdad. The bloodshed, 18 months after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq, has stirred concerns about a return to the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, when the monthly death toll sometimes topped 3,000. Earlier on Tuesday, gunmen stormed the house of a Sunni, pro-government militia member in southern Baghdad and beheaded him, along with his wife and three children, police and medics said. Separately, four unidentified bodies were found in different places in Baghdad. All of the victims had been handcuffed, blindfolded and killed. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Jim Loney)