BAGHDAD — Insurgents carried out a wave attacks and bombings across Iraq on Sunday that were aimed primarily at government security forces, gunning down soldiers at an army post and bombing police recruits waitinge to apply for jobs.
The attacks, which were reported in at least 10 cities, have left at least 39 people dead, Iraqi officials said. The death toll, however, is expected to rise.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, security forces are a frequent target of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has vowed to reassert itself and take back areas it was forced from before American. troops withdrew from the country last year.
The attacks came on the same day that a criminal court in Baghdad found the nation’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, guilty of running death squads against security forces and Shiites and sentenced him to death in absentia.
Iraq’s Shiite-led government announced the charges against the vice president in December as the last American troops were withdrawing. Mr. Hashimi has been in exile since then. Under Iraqi law, he could receive a retrial if he returns to the country to face the charges. Al-Hashemi has denied the charges, saying they are part of a political vendetta against him.
In Sunday’s deadliest attack, gunmen stormed a small Iraqi Army outpost in the town of Dujail before dawn, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding 8 others, according to police and hospital officials in the nearby city of Balad, some 50 miles north of Baghdad.
Hours later, a car bomb struck a group of police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs with the state-run oil company outside the northern city of Kirkuk. City police commander Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir said 7 recruits were killed and 17 wounded. He said all the recruits were Sunni Muslims and blamed the early morning attack on Al Qaeda, but did not provide details.
The carnage even stretched into the country’s south, where bombs stuck to two parked cars exploded in the city of Nasiriya, some 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. The explosions were near the French consulate and a local hotel in the city, although the consulate did not appear to be the target of the attack.
A local deputy health director, Dr. Adnan al-Musharifawi, said two people were killed and three wounded at the hotel, and one Iraqi policeman was wounded at the consulate. He said no French diplomats were among the casualties.
A string of smaller attacks also struck eight other cities, including Baghdad.
In a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, roadside bombs killed a policeman and a passer-by, security and health officials said. Another eight people — including four soldiers — were wounded.
The rest of the attacks were car bombs that hit cities stretching from the southern port city of Basra, Iraq’s second largest, to the city of Tal Afar northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border.
The blast in Basra killed three people and wounded 24, while the bomb in Tal Afar killed two passers-by and wounded seven, officials said. Bombings in the Sunni towns of Hawija and Ar Riyad, outside the flash point city of Kirkuk north of Baghdad, wounded seven people.
In Tuz Khormato near the city of Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb outside of a market killed four and wounded 41, said Salahuddin provincial health director Raeed Ibrahim.
Car bombs also struck two Sunni towns outside Kirkuk — Hawija and Ar Riyad — wounding seven people. Kirkuk has been a flash point city for years. Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen all claim rights to the city and the oil-rich land that surrounds it.
In Kirkuk, Qadir said three midmorning explosions — two car bombs and a roadside bomb — killed seven and wounded about 70. Also, a roadside bomb in Taji, just north of Baghdad, left two passers-by dead and 11 injured.
The attacks, which were reported in at least 10 cities, have left at least 39 people dead, Iraqi officials said. The death toll, however, is expected to rise.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, security forces are a frequent target of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has vowed to reassert itself and take back areas it was forced from before American. troops withdrew from the country last year.
The attacks came on the same day that a criminal court in Baghdad found the nation’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, guilty of running death squads against security forces and Shiites and sentenced him to death in absentia.
Iraq’s Shiite-led government announced the charges against the vice president in December as the last American troops were withdrawing. Mr. Hashimi has been in exile since then. Under Iraqi law, he could receive a retrial if he returns to the country to face the charges. Al-Hashemi has denied the charges, saying they are part of a political vendetta against him.
In Sunday’s deadliest attack, gunmen stormed a small Iraqi Army outpost in the town of Dujail before dawn, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding 8 others, according to police and hospital officials in the nearby city of Balad, some 50 miles north of Baghdad.
Hours later, a car bomb struck a group of police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs with the state-run oil company outside the northern city of Kirkuk. City police commander Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir said 7 recruits were killed and 17 wounded. He said all the recruits were Sunni Muslims and blamed the early morning attack on Al Qaeda, but did not provide details.
The carnage even stretched into the country’s south, where bombs stuck to two parked cars exploded in the city of Nasiriya, some 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. The explosions were near the French consulate and a local hotel in the city, although the consulate did not appear to be the target of the attack.
A local deputy health director, Dr. Adnan al-Musharifawi, said two people were killed and three wounded at the hotel, and one Iraqi policeman was wounded at the consulate. He said no French diplomats were among the casualties.
A string of smaller attacks also struck eight other cities, including Baghdad.
In a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, roadside bombs killed a policeman and a passer-by, security and health officials said. Another eight people — including four soldiers — were wounded.
The rest of the attacks were car bombs that hit cities stretching from the southern port city of Basra, Iraq’s second largest, to the city of Tal Afar northwest of Baghdad near the Syrian border.
The blast in Basra killed three people and wounded 24, while the bomb in Tal Afar killed two passers-by and wounded seven, officials said. Bombings in the Sunni towns of Hawija and Ar Riyad, outside the flash point city of Kirkuk north of Baghdad, wounded seven people.
In Tuz Khormato near the city of Kirkuk, about 180 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb outside of a market killed four and wounded 41, said Salahuddin provincial health director Raeed Ibrahim.
Car bombs also struck two Sunni towns outside Kirkuk — Hawija and Ar Riyad — wounding seven people. Kirkuk has been a flash point city for years. Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen all claim rights to the city and the oil-rich land that surrounds it.
In Kirkuk, Qadir said three midmorning explosions — two car bombs and a roadside bomb — killed seven and wounded about 70. Also, a roadside bomb in Taji, just north of Baghdad, left two passers-by dead and 11 injured.