Published time: September 21, 2013 16:50
Edited time: September 21, 2013 19:57
FILE photo. Iraqi men inspect the wreckage of a car at the site of a car bomb explosion in central Baghdad on September 18, 2013. (AFP Photo / Ali Al-Saadi)
A string of bombings has killed over 70 people in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, Ur district and the northern city of Baiji, adding to the worst year of violence since US troops began leaving the country in 2008.
The first bomb exploded next to a tent full of mourners in the Shiite neighborhood. Shortly after, a suicide bomber detonated his device while driving a car near the funeral-goers. A third bomb exploded as police and ambulances arrived at the scene.
"Crowds of people were visiting the tent to offer their condolences when suddenly a powerful blast...threw me to ground," said 35-year-old Basim Raheem.
"When I tried to get up, a second blast happened. My clothes were covered with blood and human flesh. I thought I was wounded, but later discovered I was lying in a pool of others' blood," he added.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad, in which at least 65 people were killed and 120 others wounded, medics said.
However, the majority of the region’s attacks are carried out by Sunni insurgents with links to Al-Qaeda, who say the Shiite government is discriminating against the country’s Sunni minority.
In a separate incident, at least eight people were killed and 12 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in the predominantly Shiite Ur district of the capital, police said.
Four suicide bombers attacked a police special forces base, killing seven and injuring more than 20 security officials in the northern city of Baiji. Police shot one of the militants, although the others managed to enter the base and blow themselves up.
Iraq has been hit by a deadly wave of bombings over the past year, as the civil war in neighboring Syria aggravates sectarian divisions in the bitterly divided country.
At least 800 Iraqis were killed in August according to the UN, with more than one-third of the country's attacks taking place in Baghdad.
The bloodshed, 18 months after the last US troops pulled out, has led to concerns that Iraq is slipping into a civil war.
At the height of the sectarian slaughter in 2006-7, the monthly death toll was sometimes as high as 3,000 people.
Edited time: September 21, 2013 19:57
A string of bombings has killed over 70 people in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, Ur district and the northern city of Baiji, adding to the worst year of violence since US troops began leaving the country in 2008.
The first bomb exploded next to a tent full of mourners in the Shiite neighborhood. Shortly after, a suicide bomber detonated his device while driving a car near the funeral-goers. A third bomb exploded as police and ambulances arrived at the scene.
"Crowds of people were visiting the tent to offer their condolences when suddenly a powerful blast...threw me to ground," said 35-year-old Basim Raheem.
"When I tried to get up, a second blast happened. My clothes were covered with blood and human flesh. I thought I was wounded, but later discovered I was lying in a pool of others' blood," he added.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad, in which at least 65 people were killed and 120 others wounded, medics said.
However, the majority of the region’s attacks are carried out by Sunni insurgents with links to Al-Qaeda, who say the Shiite government is discriminating against the country’s Sunni minority.
In a separate incident, at least eight people were killed and 12 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in the predominantly Shiite Ur district of the capital, police said.
Four suicide bombers attacked a police special forces base, killing seven and injuring more than 20 security officials in the northern city of Baiji. Police shot one of the militants, although the others managed to enter the base and blow themselves up.
Iraq has been hit by a deadly wave of bombings over the past year, as the civil war in neighboring Syria aggravates sectarian divisions in the bitterly divided country.
At least 800 Iraqis were killed in August according to the UN, with more than one-third of the country's attacks taking place in Baghdad.
The bloodshed, 18 months after the last US troops pulled out, has led to concerns that Iraq is slipping into a civil war.
At the height of the sectarian slaughter in 2006-7, the monthly death toll was sometimes as high as 3,000 people.