Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

44 Iraqis Killed, 123 Injured in Violent Attacks

October 7, 2013

 

2 Iraqi soldiers were killed, 3 were injured in a blast east of Fallouja, October 8, 2013	One Iraqi was killed, 9 were injured in a cafe blast in Za'afaraniy, south of Baghdad, October 7, 2013.

 

44 Iraqis Killed, 123 Injured in Violent Attacks

BAGHDAD, Oct. 7, 2013 (Xinhua) --

At least 44 people were killed and 123 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Monday, including a wave of deadly bombings in the capital city of Baghdad, police and Interior Ministry officials said.

The car bomb and roadside bomb attacks in Baghdad on Monday evening left at least 30 people dead and 106 others injured, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The deadliest attack occurred when a car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded simultaneously in the Husseiniya area in northern Baghdad, killing eight people and injuring 30 others, he said.

At least five people were killed and 16 others wounded when a car bomb went off in the Zafaraniyah area in southeastern Baghdad, the source said, adding that a car bomb in the Dora district in southern Baghdad killed five people and wounded 14 others.

A car bomb parked on the side of a road in the Aalam neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad exploded on Monday evening, killing three people and wounding 11 others, while a roadside bomb went off in the Camp Sara area in eastern Baghdad, killing three people and injuring eight others, the police source said.

Two people were killed and 10 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad, he said, adding that a man was killed and seven others were wounded when a car bomb went off in the al-Obeidi area in eastern Baghdad.

Also on Monday evening, a car bomb exploded in the Saidiya area in southwestern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 10 others, the police source said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, was responsible for such massive attacks, raising fears that the terrorist group and other militia could return to widespread violence, particularly as Iraq is trying to fend off the spillover of the escalating violence in neighboring Syria.

Earlier in the day, up to 14 people were killed and 17 others wounded in separate attacks across the country, Interior Ministry and police sources said.

A roadside bomb went off at a checkpoint manned by members of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group at al-Mashahda area, some 30 km north of Baghdad, killing four group members and wounding five others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Two more Sahwa fighters were killed and three wounded in a separate bomb explosion at their checkpoint at a village near the town of Madain, some 30 km southeast of Baghdad, the source said.

The Sahwa militia, also known as the Awakening Council or the Sons of Iraq, consists of armed groups, including some powerful anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent groups, who turned their rifles against the al-Qaida network after Sahwa's leaders became dismayed by al- Qaida's brutality and religious zealotry in the country.

Meanwhile, two soldiers were killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in Garmah area, just east of the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.

In northern Iraq, a roadside bomb went off near an army patrol in Mahlabiyah area in west of Mosul city, about 400 km north of Baghdad, killing four soldiers and wounding two, a police source from Mosul told Xinhua.

In a separate incident, a policeman was killed and three wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol in the western part of Mosul, the source said.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, unidentified gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead an intelligence officer while he was driving his car at a village near the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also in the province, a farmer was wounded by gunmen in a rural area near the town of Abbara, some 15 km northeast of Baquba, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq has said that almost 6,000 civilians were killed and over 14,000 others injured in Iraq from January to September this year.

Iraq: Coordinated blasts in Baghdad, other attacks kill 45 as al-Qaida claims earlier assault

October 7, 2013, By Associated Press

BAGHDAD —

A string of attacks across Iraq, including a coordinated wave of evening bombings in Baghdad, killed at least 45 people Monday as al-Qaida claimed responsibility for a recent spate of rare suicide attacks in the relatively peaceful Kurdish north.

Monday’s bombings marked the third day in a row that insurgents were able to unleash attacks powerful enough to claim fatalities numbering in the dozens. The mounting bloodshed is heightening worries that the country is returning to the widespread sectarian killing that marked the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Iraq: Coordinated blasts in Baghdad, other attacks kill 45 as al-Qaida claims earlier assault - The Washington Post

A rapid-fire wave of bombings that rocked the Iraqi capital shortly after nightfall struck at least eight different neighborhoods, according to police officials, who provided casualty tolls. The force of one powerful blast, a car bomb explosion in the Bab al-Sharji neighborhood that killed four and wounded 11, rattled windows in central Baghdad.

More than 5,000 people have been killed since violent attacks began accelerating in April, including more than 50 Shiite pilgrims slain in a Baghdad suicide bombing Saturday and 12 children killed the following day when a vehicle packed with explosives blew up next to their school in the north of the country.

Amnesty International condemned the recent spate of killings as “a deplorable turn in the current surge in violence.”

“These latest attacks are war crimes and are part of a widespread attack against civilians in Iraq that amounts to crimes against humanity,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the group’s program director for the Middle East.

Monday’s deadliest attack happened when a car bomb and roadside bomb exploded in a market and nearby parking lot in the northern Shiite district of Husseiniya, killing seven and wounding 21.

Car bombs also hit the mainly Shiite neighborhoods of Zafaraniyah, with four killed and 11 wounded, Alam, with two dead and 10 wounded, Obeidi, with five killed and eight wounded. Another bomb exploded outside a Zafaraniyah coffee shop later in the evening, killing three and wounding 10.

Confessionally mixed neighborhoods were also hit. A roadside bomb hit a commercial street in Kam Sarah, killing three and wounding eight, and the eastern Baghdad al-Jadidah, killing five and wounding 14.

Another car bomb exploded in shopping streets in the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Dora, killing four and wounding eight, and in the mostly Sunni area of Sadiyah, killing three and wounding 10.

Earlier on Monday, bombs targeting patrols of pro-government, anti-al-Qaida Sunni militia members outside Baghdad killed five and wounded 10, police said. The militiamen are a frequent target for al-Qaida, which considers them traitors.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties. The authorities spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but coordinated bomb blasts in civilian areas are a frequent tactic by al-Qaida’s Iraq arm.

Earlier, al-Qaida claimed responsibility for rare suicide attacks last month in the relatively peaceful self-ruled Kurdish region, underlining the terror group’s growing strength across the country.

The Sept. 29 twin suicide car bombs hit a complex housing the regional Interior Ministry and other security agencies in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, killing at least six Kurdish troops and wounding more than 30 others. The attacks were the biggest in the Kurdish region since 2007, when a suicide truck bombing hit the same ministry, killing 14.

In a statement posted Monday on a militant website, the group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, said the attacks were retaliation for statements by regional President Massoud Barzani expressing readiness to help the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad in its fight against insurgents, and for his offer to assist Kurdish militias in neighboring Syria.

Al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria have been fighting ethnic Kurds in Syria’s northeast.

Since 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Kurdish region in northern Iraq has been relatively peaceful compared to the rest of the country, making it a major draw for foreign investors looking to gain a foothold in Iraq.

The authenticity of the statement by al-Qaida’s Iraq branch could not be independently verified but it was consistent with the group’s earlier statements.

Also Monday, Iraq’s parliament said in a statement that lawmakers set April 30 as the date for holding national elections. Iraq’s last national elections were held in March 2010. It took political rivals nine months to form a government. Since then, the Defense and Interior portfolios have been held by embattled Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, because of ongoing political wrangling.

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Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin contributed reporting.