IRAQ: At least 25 people have been killed and dozens wounded when several car bombs exploded in Shi'ite areas of the Iraqi capital

Record ID: 357723

  • Title: IRAQ: At least 25 people have been killed and dozens wounded when several car bombs exploded in Shi'ite areas of the Iraqi capital
  • Date: 14th January 2014
  • Summary: BLOODSTAINS AND RUBBLE
  • Embargoed: 29th January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVACIYLI1ZO0WLAPKDOOHAABMJKO
  • Story Text: A sereis of four car bombs killed at least 25 people in Shi'ite Muslim districts of Baghdad late on Monday (January 13), police said, in violence that coincided with a visit to the Iraqi capital by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
    Although no group claimed responsibility, the bombings appeared to be part of a relentless campaign by al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militants to undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.
    The deadliest attack occurred in the mainly Shi'ite neighborhood of Shaab in eastern Baghdad where a car bomb exploded in a commercial area, killing 11 people and wounding 28.
    In another attack, a car bomb went off in a residential area in the mainly Baghdad's Shi'ite northwestern district of Shula, killing six people and wounding 22 others.

    "A bomb attached to a car went off first and when we rushed to the car to evacuate victims, a car bomb went off, so we went back and security forces started to fire into air (to prevent people from coming closer) and they started to evacuate the wounded," said a resident of the area.
    Police said 76 people had been wounded in the four attacks, which occurred in the evening when many people were out in the streets on a public holiday to mark the Prophet Mohammad's birthday.
    Gunmen also attacked a checkpoint in southern Baghdad, killing three policemen and wounding four, police said.
    Last year was Iraq's bloodiest since 2008, with nearly 9,000 people killed, according to U.N. figures.
    On January 1, Sunni militants overran the western cities of Falluja and Ramadi in a bold challenge to the government, alarming the United States, whose troops fought fierce battles with insurgents in Falluja in 2004.
    Government officials trace the resurgence of Islamist militancy in Iraq to the civil war in neighboring Syria, where al Qaeda branches have emerged as a powerful force among rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
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