Car bombs rip through Baghdad, 17 killed

BAGHDAD: A wave of attacks in and around Baghdad and in northern Iraq killed 17 people and wounded dozens of others on Tuesday, shattering a relative calm after a spate of deadly attacks last week.

Tuesday’s bloodiest blasts struck an army checkpoint south of Baghdad, a military base north of the capital, and a mostly Shiite neighbourhood in the city’s north, security and medical officials said.

No group claimed responsibility so far.

“One of my friends was hurt in his head, and another was seriously wounded in his chest,” said 41-year-old mechanic Ali Jassim at the site of the Baghdad blast, before angrily shouting: “The politicians are busy with
keeping their posts, and we are suffering from these explosions!”

In the bloodiest attack, six people were killed when a car bomb was detonated near an army camp in the town of Taji, 25 kilometres north of Baghdad, an army officer and a medical official said.

At least 20 other people were wounded.

South of the capital in the town of Mahmudiyah, at least five people were killed and 14 others wounded by a suicide car bomb, officials said.

Mahmudiyah lies within a confessionally mixed region known as the “Triangle of Death” because of the frequency of insurgent attacks during the worst of Iraq’s insurgency in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.

A car bomb near a market in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala killed five people and wounded 12, while four shootings and bombings in Diyala province left an anti-Qaeda militiaman dead and at least six other people hurt. Pieces of metal were littered across the scene of the Baghdad attack, with several cars badly damaged or completely burned, an AFP journalist said.

Six Kurdish security officers were also wounded by a roadside bomb in the northern town of Tuz Khurmatu.

The violence came after four days of relative calm in Iraq following a spate of attacks claimed by Al Qaeda’s front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, that left at least 88 people dead on Jan. 15-17, according to an AFP tally.

The violence and political troubles come with barely three months to go before provincial elections, Iraq’s first polls in three years and a key barometer to gauge the popularity of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki and his rivals.

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17 killed, several hurt in car blast

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 -
Baghdad— string of car bomb attacks in and around Baghdad killed 17 people and wounded dozens
Tuesday, deepening fears of an increase in violence as sectarian tensions simmer in Iraq. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, blame is likely to fall on Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaida’s local franchise. The group often uses indiscriminate car bombs to sow fear among Iraq’s Shiite majority and undermine the government’s authority.

The killing began in the morning when a parked car exploded in Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, targeting a security checkpoint there. The explosion killed five, including two soldiers who were manning the checkpoint, and wounded 15 people, according to police. Then, a suicide car bomb struck
near a checkpoint in the northern Baghdad suburb of Taji, killing seven people and wounding 26. A teacher who witnessed the attack, Nasseer Rahman, 35, said he was sitting in a minibus waiting to pass the checkpoint when the attack happened about 120 meters (yards) away.

“The useless checkpoint was the reason for the high casualties because dozens of cars were backed up in long lines before the checkpoint that got hit,” he said. “As soon as the blast struck, we got off the minibus and ran to the site of the explosion. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Violence has fallen since the peak of the insurgency in Iraq several years ago, but lethal attacks still occur frequently.

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Two blasts, suicide attack kill 17 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three blasts, including a suicide attack near an army base, killed least 17 people across Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest violence to feed worries that Iraq's unrest may slide into widespread sectarian confrontation.

Insurgent bombers are seeking to enflame tensions as Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces increasing pressure from mass Sunni Muslim protests and a separate dispute with the country's autonomous Kurdistan region over the control of oil.

The most deadly of Tuesday's explosions took place in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives detonated his bomb near an army base, killing at least seven people and wounding 24.

Another parked car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, killing five people and wounded 13, police and hospital sources said.

"We received a call for us to head to the blast site, it was a car bomb. A woman was laying dead with a sack of groceries still beside her, and the wounded were screaming," said policeman Ghalib Ameer, whose patrol was called to Shula.

In Mahmudiya, a town 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, a car bomb attack near an army checkpoint killed five people, including two soldiers and wounded 14 more.

Violence in Iraq has eased since the widespread sectarian carnage of 2006-7, but Sunni Islamist insurgents often tied to a local al Qaeda affiliate still launch frequent attacks to reignite confrontation among the Shi'ite majority, Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds.

MAJOR CHALLENGE

Thousands of Sunni protesters are camped out in western Anbar province in what is developing into a major challenge to Maliki, whose power-sharing government, split among Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, has been bogged down in infighting since the last U.S. troops left a year ago.

The Shi'ite premier is trying to ease Sunni protests that erupted a month ago after officials arrested members of a Sunni finance minister's security team on terrorism charges. Sunni leaders saw that move as a crackdown.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion a decade ago, many Iraq Sunnis feel they have been marginalised by the Shi'ite leadership and say Maliki is amassing power at their community's expense.

Maliki has appointed senior Shi'ite figure Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani to investigate the protesters' demands.

Authorities said on Tuesday they had so far released more than 800 detainees unjustly held or whose sentences had ended.

But thousands of protesters camped out on a highway in the Sunni heartland of Anbar, the vast desert province that was once the centre of al Qaeda's fight against American troops, say they are determined to stay out until their demands are met.

Sunni leaders want the modification of anti-terrorism laws and more control over a campaign against former members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party, both measures they believe unfairly target their minority community.

The unrest is fanning concerns the conflict in neighbouring Syria will upset Iraq's own delicate ethnic and sectarian
balance. More hardline Sunni Islamists want Maliki to step down or even the establishment of an autonomous Iraqi Sunni region.

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Car bombs and robbery in Iraq kill 22, deepening fears of rising violence as tensions simmer

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BAGHDAD - A string of attacks, including three car bombings in and around Baghdad, killed at least 22 people Tuesday, deepening fears of a surge in violence as sectarian tensions fester in Iraq.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, blame is likely to fall on Sunni insurgents such as al-Qaida's local franchise for Tuesday's bloodshed. The group often uses indiscriminate attacks to sow fear among Iraq's Shiite majority and undermine the government's authority.

It was at least the fourth day this year that insurgents overcame security measures to carry out high-profile attacks claiming at least 20 lives. Over a two-day stretch alone last week, a series of what appeared to be co-ordinated bombings and other strikes killed nearly 60 people.

The upsurge in violence has coincided with a wave of Sunni-led protests against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government over what they see as unfair treatment of their sect.

Tuesday's attacks began when a parked car exploded at a security checkpoint in Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the Iraqi capital. The blast killed five people, including two soldiers who were manning the checkpoint, and wounded 15, according to police.

A second car bomb, this one detonated by a suicide attacker, went off near a checkpoint in the northern Baghdad suburb of Taji, killing seven people and wounding 26.

Nasseer Rahman, a 35-year-old teacher, said he was sitting in a minibus waiting to pass the checkpoint when the bomb exploded about 120 metres (yards) away.

"The useless checkpoint was the reason for the high casualties because dozens of cars were backed up in long lines before (it) got hit," he said. "As soon as the blast struck, we got off the minibus and ran to the site of the explosion. We saw several cars on fire and pools of blood, and everybody was screaming for help."

Later in the day, another parked car loaded with explosives blew up in the predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Shula in northwestern Baghdad, killing five and wounding 15, police said. The blast left several cars charred and mangled.

Medics at a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Elsewhere, gunmen killed two government employees and three guards as they were transporting salaries between oil facilities near Beiji, which is home to Iraq's largest oil refinery, about 155 miles (250 kilometres) north of Baghdad.

Police have launched a manhunt for the assailants, who made off with the money, according to Beiji mayor Abid al-Awadh.

Al-Qaida and other insurgent groups occasionally carry out brazen robberies in order to finance further attacks.

Violence has fallen since the peak of the insurgency in Iraq several years ago, but lethal attacks launched primarily by Sunni extremists still occur frequently. The attacks exacerbate Iraq's struggle to maintain stability amid a series of political crises that have wracked the country since the U.S. military withdrawal in December 2011.

The violence comes amid rising ethnic and sectarian tension following the arrest last month of bodyguards assigned to the Sunni Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi.

The detentions sparked a wave of demonstrations that have swept the Sunni-dominated Anbar province as well as other parts of the country where Iraq's minority Sunnis live.

The protesters, who are rallying against alleged discrimination by the Shiite-led government, demand the release of detainees and want to overturn policies including a tough counterterrorism law that they believe unfairly target their sect.

Al-Maliki earlier this month set up a government committee charged with looking into the protesters' demands. It has focused so far on freeing detainees in an apparent effort to quell the demonstrations.

Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, one of the prime minister's most trusted political allies, announced Tuesday that more than 1,000 inmates have been set free since the panel began its work.

A delegation of United Nations officials travelled to the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi on Tuesday to meet with protesters and local officials to better understand their demands, said Eliana Nabaa, a U.N. spokeswoman in Baghdad.

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