Deadly bombings strike Iraqi cities

Bombings in the Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and the capital Baghdad have killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 120, security and medical officials say.

At least 14 people were killed and 47 others wounded due to a series of car bombings in Shia-majority areas of Baghdad, including the northern districts of Kadhimiya and Sadr City, and Mashtal and Baghdad Jadida in the capital’s east.

Police and hospital officials say the deadliest attack was near a bus stop in the neighbourhood of Sadr City where at least seven people were killed and 20 others wounded.

Officials say a total of 11 bombings struck Baghdad, as well as the cities of Kirkuk and Tarmiyah.

Earlier on Wednesday, at least 10 people were killed when two car bombs exploded near government buildings in Kirkuk.

Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area.

The Kurds want to incorporate it into their self-rule region in Iraq’s north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed.

In Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding four people, while a roadside bomb in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed another policeman and wounded two.

Violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first four months of this year.

Al Jazeera’s Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Erbil, Iraq said the incidents were likely to increase.

“At least six car bombs went off in different neighbourhoods of the Iraq capital Baghdad, proof of the deteriorating conditions not only in the capital but across the country,” our correspondent said.

“Of course last month was the highest death toll since 2008 and this month it seems the death toll and the security incidents are only increasing.

“Both sides do indicate the fact that they are willing to talk, however, neither of the two sides trust each other so when you have the protesters saying they are willing to talk, you have the prime minister saying the demands of the protesters are not eligible.”