Wave of bomb blasts rocks Iraqi capital

Multiple bombs have exploded in quick succession in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 37 and injuring 107, according to officials.

The apparently coordinated string of attacks, mostly involving car bombs, struck mainly commercial areas across the Iraqi capital on Monday evening, Associated Press reported.

Police reported casualties from explosions in ten different neighbourhoods in the Iraqi capital, including Meshahda town in the north, Dora, Zafaraniyah, Husseiniyah, Ubaidi neighbourhoods and Elaam and Aidiyah in the south.

The deadliest attack happened when a car bomb and roadside bomb exploded in a market and nearby parking lot in the northern Shia district of Husseiniya, killing five, while another five were killed in Ubaidi.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties.

The authorities spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to brief reporters.

The attacks came a day after two bombings in Baghdad, including a suicide attack against Shia pilgrims, killed 27 people.

The attacks are the latest in a surge of bloodshed that has roiled Iraq for months, heightening worries that the country is returning to the widespread sectarian killing that marked the years following the 2003 US-led invasion.

More than 6,000 people have been killed across the country this year, according to monitoring group Iraq Body Count,
reversing a decline in sectarian bloodshed that had reached a climax in 2006-07.

The civil war in neighbouring Syria has put acute pressure on Iraq’s delicate sectarian balance, which was already under strain from political feuds between the country’s Sunni, Shia and ethnic Kurdish factions.