Insurgent attacks kill 30, wound dozens in Iraq

Associated Press SHARE

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) — Insurgents launched attacks against security forces and civilians in central and northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

Shiite mosques in Baghdad were main targets, along with a city claimed by squabbling ethnic groups in a disputed northern region. The conflicts threaten the stability of Iraq following the final pullout of U.S. military forces nearly a year ago.

Car bombs exploded near three mosques shortly after nightfall in the capital, killing 21. Police and hospital officials said the first exploded near a Shiite mosque following evening prayers in the Hurriyah neighborhood, killing nine worshippers and wounding 20 others. Minutes later, another car bomb went off near Gaereat mosque, killing five people.

Later, police said a third car bomb exploded, killing seven Shiite worshippers and wounding 21 others in Shula neighborhood in northern Baghdad.

Ali Habib, a taxi driver, said he was driving near the Shiite mosque in Hurriyah when he heard a loud explosion. He rushed to the blast site and helped take wounded to the hospital.

"The scene was horrific, with people screaming for help," he said. "Such attacks bring back memories of the darkest days of sectarian strife that took place several years ago in Iraq."

In the north, a police officer said three bombs in parked cars exploded simultaneously in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, the largest city in the area claimed by several ethnic groups in a dispute with the central government in Baghdad.





In the northeastern province of Diyala, gunmen in a speeding car showered a checkpoint manned by Sahwa, an anti-al-Qaida group, with bullets, killing one and wounding two others, another police official said. The Sahwa are Sunni Arabs who joined forces with the U.S. military to fight al-Qaida at the height of Iraq's insurgency. They have since been favorite targets for Sunni insurgents who consider them traitors.

Also in Diyala, a roadside bomb targeted a passing police patrol in the town of Khan Bani Saad, killing a civilian bystander and wounding two policemen, the officer said. The town is about 35 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad.


Five other civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi military base in the town of Taji, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said.



Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin contributed.
