Deadly bombings strike Iraq’s Diyala province

Cafe in town of Baquba hit by two explosions, killing 10 people and wounding at least 18.

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Ten people have been killed and at least 15 others wounded by two explosions that struck a popular coffee shop in the Iraqi province of Diyala, security sources have said.

Diyala province has long been one of the most volatile regions in Iraq, inhabited by a mix of Sunnis, Shias and Kurds. 

The attacks took place in a mainly Sunni village on the outskirts of Baquba, 65km northeast of Baghdad, a policeman in the village and a source in Diyala operations command said.

The sources said the first explosion, set off by a suicide car bomber, killed 10 people and wounded 15 others. The
policeman said a second bomb planted inside the coffee shop wounded three more people.

“We received 10 bodies and 18 wounded,” Abdul-Razaq Hussein, a doctor in Baquba hospital, told the Reuters news agency. Other news agencies reported a lower amount of wounded victims.

Tensions between Shias, Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq’s coalition government have been high since US forces withdrew
in December, raising fears of a return to the sectarian violence that almost drove the country to the edge of civil war
a few years ago.

Although violence in Iraq has dropped sharply from the height of sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, bombings and killings still occur on a daily basis.

Five civilians were killed and 27 others wounded earlier on Thursday when a roadside bomb and a car bomb exploded in
Baghdad.

Last Thursday, more than 20 bombs hit cities and towns across Iraq, killing at least 36 people and wounding almost 150.

Source: News Agencies