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Deadly Iraqi attacks

June 13, 2012

At least 70 people have been killed in Baghdad and southern Iraq in attacks during a major religious festival. The violence comes at a time of high political tension.

https://p.dw.com/p/15D4V
Iraqis watch smoke rising from a burning car at the site of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, 13 June 2012
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

In total, more than 20 bombs went off in Iraq on Wednesday, in one of the bloodiest episodes since US troops left the country in December.

Car-bomb explosions targeting Shiite pilgrims in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killed and wounded dozens. Ten bombs and two shootings rocked the capital early in the morning leading to at least 19 deaths, according to an interior ministry official. The deadliest attack was in the Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada, where a car bomb claimed the lives of 16 people. Further bombs went off in other parts of the capital later in the day.

Car blasts also exploded in the mainly Shiite city of Balad, claiming several victims.

The explosions in the capital struck as Shiite pilgrims gathered to mark the anniversary of the death in the eighth century of Shiite imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

Bombs, Shootings Kill Dozens in Iraq

The revered imam is buried in a shrine in the Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah. The annual commemoration of the imam's death is to reach its climax on Saturday.

Sectarian rifts

The escalation of violence has raised fears of heightened tensions between Shiites and Sunnis at a time when the country's fragile government is caught up in feuding over a power-sharing accord between Sunni, Shiite and ethnic Kurdish blocks.

A destroyed bus is moved from the scene where two car bombs exploded minutes apart in Hillah, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Bombs exploded minutes apart from each other in HillahImage: AP

Earlier this month, a suicide attack on a Shiite religious office in Baghdad killed 26 people and wounded more than 190. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by al-Qaeda's Iraqi branch, Islamic State of Iraq.

Sectarian tensions drove Iraq close to civil war in 2006-2007. Violence in Iraq has declined since then, but attacks remain common.

Official figures show that 132 Iraqis were killed in violence in May.

tj, sej/ncy (Reuters, AP, AFP)