Another wave of attacks kills many in Iraq

At least 23 people die in explosions and armed attacks across the country amid continuing surge in violence.

Friday's deadly attacks cap several days of bloody assaults in Iraq as the attacks go unstopped [FILE: AFP]

Bombings and shootings have killed at least 23 people across Iraq, police and medical sources said, capping several days of bloody assaults in the country as the attacks go unstopped.

The deadliest attack took place in the predominantly Sunni Doura neighbourhood in southern Baghdad on Friday, where two roadside bombs exploded near a soft drinks store, killing seven people and wounding 18, police and medics told the Associated Press news agency.

Another bomb went off at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s southeastern suburb of Nahrawan, killing three shoppers and wounding 10, a police officer said .

One more explosion targeted worshippers as they were leaving a Sunni mosque after Friday prayers in the capital’s southwestern Saydiyah neighbourhood, killing three and wounding nine, another police officer said.

In two other Baghdad areas, a doctor was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded and a police officer was shot dead while driving his car.

In Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, one worshipper was killed and six others were wounded when a bomb went off near a Sunni mosque.

Police station assault

To the north of the Iraqi capital, a bomb targeted a patrol of pro-government anti-al-Qaeda Sunni fighters in the town of Tarmiyah, killing three and wounding two, police said. 

Armed men attacked a police station and an army patrol near the northern city of Mosul, killing two policemen and two soldiers and wounding seven troops in those attacks. 

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to talk to journalists.

The explosions came a day after a series of attacks killed at least 50 people on Thursday. And on Wednesday, coordinated explosions hit mainly Shia commercial areas in Baghdad and outside the capital, killing at least 35 people.

Bombings and armed attacks have spiked since April, when security forces carried out a bloody raid on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north, pushing violence to the highest levels in years and killing more than 5,500 people, according to the United Nations.

Source: News Agencies