|
| Iraqis gather at the scene of a car bomb attack at a used cars dealers parking lot in Habibiya neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 27, 2013. A wave of car bombings tore through mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhoods of the Baghdad area, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said, in the latest outburst of an unusually intense wave of bloodshed roiling Iraq. The blasts are the latest indication that Iraq's security is rapidly deteriorating. |
BAGHDAD (AP)
-- A coordinated wave of car bombings tore through mostly Shiite areas
of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 66 people and maiming nearly 200
as insurgents step up the bloodshed roiling Iraq.
The
attacks in markets and other areas frequented by civilians are the
latest sign of a rapid deterioration in security as sectarian tensions
are exacerbated by anti-government protests and the war in neighboring
Syria grinds on.
More than 450 people have
been killed across Iraq in May. Most of the killings came over the past
two weeks in the most sustained wave of violence since U.S. troops left
in December 2011.
The surge in attacks is
reminiscent of the sectarian carnage that pushed Iraq to the brink of
civil war in 2006 and 2007. April was Iraq's deadliest month since June
2008, according to a United Nations tally that put last month's death
toll at more than 700.
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility for Monday's bombings, but they bore the
hallmarks of al-Qaida's Iraqi arm. The group, known as the Islamic State
of Iraq, frequently uses car bombs and coordinated blasts against
Shiites to undermine Iraqis' confidence in the Shiite-led government.
The
day's deadliest attack happened when two bombs exploded in the eastern
Habibiya area on the edge of the sprawling Shiite district of Sadr City.
Those blasts killed 12 and wounded 35, police said.
Twin blasts also struck an open-air market in the predominantly Shiite al-Maalif area, killing six and wounding 12.
Another
car bomb exploded in the busy commercial Sadoun Street in downtown
Baghdad. It killed five civilians and wounded 14, police said. Among the
wounded were four policemen who were at a nearby checkpoint.
The
central street is one of the capital's main commercial areas and is
lined with clinics, pharmacies and shops. Firefighters were seen
struggling to extinguish flames as police sealed off the area. Several
shops were partially damaged or burned.
`'What crime have those innocent people committed?" asked witness Zein al-Abidin. "Who is responsible for these massacres?"
Elsewhere across the bloodied capital city, police reported:
-
A car bomb went off in the eastern New Baghdad area as officers were
waiting for explosives experts to dismantle it. A civilian was killed
and nine others wounded.
- In the north, a
blast in the Sabi al-Boor neighborhood killed eight civilians and
wounded 26. In the Kazimiyah district, a car bomb blew up near a bus and
taxi stop, killing four and wounding 11.
Another
blast killed four and wounded nine in the Shaab area. And an attack in
the Hurriyah neighborhood left five dead and 14 wounded.
- A bomb in the southwestern neighborhood of Bayaa killed six civilians and wounded 16.
- In Baghdad's central Sadria area, a car bomb killed three civilians and wounded 11.
-
In the east, a blast killed five and wounded 12 in the Jisr Diyala
area. Car bombs also struck the Baladiyat neighborhood, killing four and
wounding 11.
- And in Madain, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of central Baghdad, a car bomb killed three and wounded nine.
Medical
officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release
information.
The day's bloodshed was the
deadliest since last Monday, when a wave of attacks killed 113 people in
Shiite and Sunni areas. That was the deadliest single day in Iraq since
July 23, when attacks aimed largely at security forces killed 115.
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement condemning the latest attacks.
Although
violence has decreased sharply since the height of the insurgency that
followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, militants are still capable of
carrying out lethal attacks nationwide. The recent wave of attacks has
raised tensions between the country's Sunni minority and Shiite-led
government.
Since late December, members of
Iraq's Sunni community have been protesting against the government. They
cite a range of grievances, including poor services, discrimination and
the application of tough anti-terrorism policies they believe unfairly
target their sect.
The unrest is fueling
long-simmering sectarian rifts in the country that only grew more
divisive after an April 23 crackdown by security forces on a Sunni
protest camp. The crackdown in the town of Hawija left many protesters
dead.
Maria Fantappie, an Iraq analyst at the
International Crisis Group, linked the uptick in violence to the
protests and said the events at Hawija marked a turning point.
"They
transformed the political crisis into a series of local conflicts in
the Sunni-populated provinces," she said. "As it stands, the risk is a
metastasis of armed clashes across these provinces."
She
said outright civil war between the protesters - who remain divided
over their support for violence - and security forces loyal to the
Shiite-led government is unlikely, however.
Alarmed
by a nationwide deterioration in the security situation, Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently ordered a reshuffle in senior military
ranks.
Authorities have also launched a
military operation in the country's western Anbar province to chase down
fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq.
The group is
growing stronger as a result of rising lawlessness on the Syrian-Iraq
frontier and cross-border cooperation with the Syrian militant group
Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, a rebel faction fighting to oust
President Bashar Assad.
