IRAQ: At least 15 people are killed as two separate blasts hit Baghdad

Record ID: 863961

  • Title: IRAQ: At least 15 people are killed as two separate blasts hit Baghdad
  • Date: 29th May 2013
  • Summary: BLOOD AND PIECES OF GLASS ON GROUND
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVAEEE5401FWLRX61V249WGIAX0I
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: At least 15 people were killed in two separate bomb blasts in Baghdad late on Tuesday (May 29), as part of an escalating wave of attacks that hit the Iraqi capital over the past two days, police and hospital sources said.
    In the first attack two bombs went off in Baghdad's southern district of al-Doura, killing 10 people and wounding 27 others, while a bomb attack at a market in Baghdad's northern district of al-Shaab killed five people and wounded 15 others.
    "Bombs went off here. One here and the other one there (pointing). Many people were hurt. Why? What is our guilt? The checkpoint there was manned by one soldier . There is no security. They (security forces) ordered cars not to park here, but when they left, the cars came and parked. They searched (security forces) the neighbourhood ten days ago, yet, the blast happened. What did people do to be killed," said Bassam, a resident of the al-Doura area.
    More than 70 people were killed in a wave of bombings in markets in Shi'ite neighbourhoods across Baghdad on Monday (May 27) in worsening sectarian violence in Iraq.
    No group claimed responsibility for the blasts. But Sunni Muslim Islamist insurgents and al-Qaeda' s Iraqi wing have increased attacks since the beginning of the year and often target Shi'ite districts.
    More than a dozen blasts tore into markets and shopping areas in districts across the Iraqi capital on Monday, including twin bombs just several hundred meters apart that killed at least 13 people in the capital's Sadr City area, police and hospital officials said.
    Tensions between the Shi'ite leadership and the Sunni Muslim minority are at their worst since U.S. troops left in December 2011, and the conflict in Syria is straining Iraq's fragile communal balance.
    More than 700 people were killed in attacks in April, according to a U.N. count, the highest monthly toll in almost five years. So far in May more than 300 have died.
    Thousands of Sunnis began staging street protests last December against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whom they accuse of marginalising their sect since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the 2003 invasion.
    The latest surge in violence began in April after a raid by the Iraqi army on a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the town of Hawija led to clashes with the security forces and more attacks.
    Bombings on Shi'ite and Sunni mosques, security forces and Sunni tribal leaders over a month-long surge in violence are heightening worries Iraq risks returning to the level of sectarian violence that killed thousands in 2006-2007.
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