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Scores Die as Militants in Iraq Unleash Attacks Militants Unleash Wave of Violence in Iraq, Killing Dozens
(about 7 hours later)
BAGHDAD — At least seven car bombs detonated across Baghdad on Wednesday in lethal and apparently coordinated attacks by militants that killed at least 30 people, according to police and health officials. BAGHDAD — Militants launched lethal and coordinated car bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, killed truck drivers outside the city and detonated explosives at a funeral tent in a village during one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in Iraq so far this year, according to health and security officials.
Separately, at least 18 people were killed when three bombs detonated at a funeral tent in the city of Baquba, north of Baghdad. And later on Wednesday, three people were killed when improvised explosive devices exploded in a Baghdad market. By day’s end, at least 64 people were dead, including residents who had been shopping in markets, soldiers on patrol and seven truck drivers who were found dead from gunshot wounds. The motive for those killings was unclear.
The latest killings brought the total deaths over the last three days to more than 80, after a rash of bombings targeting mostly Shiite neighborhoods. Iraq has seen little relief this year after 12 months of surging violence that left more than 8,000 people dead, the highest number of fatalities since 2008. The bloodshed has come as the government is consumed with a battle in the western province of Anbar against militants, including fighters linked to Al Qaeda, who have seized territory and government installations in recent weeks.
The attacks have coincided with bloody fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar Province, where the government is locked in a standoff with Sunni militants who have seized territory as well as police stations and government buildings. On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that thousands of people displaced by the fighting were “enduring considerable hardship.” Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has tried to rally Iraqis with a call to defeat what he says is foreign-sponsored terrorism. Yet he has struggled to win allies among Sunnis antagonized by the Shiite-led government’s security tactics, and by his own blunt talk, which has frequently tarred Sunni opponents as Qaeda members, regardless of their affiliation.
The bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday started about 10:30 a.m. and continued for about an hour, with one explosion following another and most of them striking busy morning markets. One of the cars exploded outside the home of Naji Subhi, 39, who lives in the well-to-do Karrada neighborhood. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Wednesday of a growing humanitarian toll from the fighting in Anbar, which includes Falluja, saying in a statement that its workers had delivered aid to about 12,000 displaced people as a result of the violence.
Hoping to cheat Iraq’s capricious violence, Mr. Subhi, a computer wholesaler, had moved his office across the street from his house, with around 25 feet separating the two buildings, he said. The bomber parked a car in that space on Wednesday. It exploded as Mr. Subhi was getting water from his kitchen, injuring him in the hands and legs. He found his wife in the house, injured and unable to move, with blood streaming from her nose. She told him to find their children. “People are struggling hard to cope with the cold as blankets, mattresses and food are lacking,” the group said.
Another bomb struck a barbecue restaurant nearby, sending shrapnel into the building and killing at least two people, according to Salah Abdel-Hassan, a mechanic who was working next door. There were at least eight bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, starting around 10:30 a.m. and continuing in rapid succession for about an hour with most of the bombs striking markets. One of the cars exploded outside the home of Naji Subhi, 39, who lives in the well-to-do Karada neighborhood.
He said he was trying to reach the family of two young brothers who were eating breakfast in the restaurant at the time of the explosion. One was killed, he said, and the other survived. Hoping to cheat Iraq’s capricious violence, Mr. Subhi, a computer wholesaler, had moved his office across the street from his house, to eliminate his daily commute. But the bomber parked his car on the street between the two buildings on Wednesday. It exploded as Mr. Subhi was getting water from the kitchen in his office, injuring his hands and legs. He found his wife in their house, unable to move, with blood streaming from her nose.
Another bomb struck a barbecue restaurant nearby, sending shrapnel into the building and killing at least two people, according to Salah Abdel-Hassan, a mechanic working next door. Soon afterward he said he was trying to reach the family of two young brothers who were eating breakfast in the restaurant at the time of the explosion. One of the brothers was killed, he said, and the other survived.
In Anbar, heavy clashes were reported around Falluja and a few miles away, in Saqlawiya, where gunmen stormed a police station before they were attacked and routed by the army and tribesmen, according to the police. The deadliest attack of the day occurred north of Baghdad where explosive devices planted in a funeral tent killed at least 18 people. Local officials said many of the victims were members of the so-called Awakening Councils, local Sunni tribesmen the government pays, and relies on, to fight jihadists.