Deadly explosions hit Iraq capital

At least 15 people were killed and another 35 injured as two bombs went off consecutively in a predominantly Shia neighborhood of the Iraqi capital. The bombs struck near a cafe in Baghdad’s busy Sadriyah shopping area Monday.

More than 150 people were killed in Iraq in the past week, increasing fears that the country is on the brink of plunging back into a Sunni-Shia sectarian war.

Worsening unrest in Iraq has killed more than 5,900 people this year alone.

Elsewhere in Baghdad on Monday, a car bomb targeting a police station in the city’s northeastern outskirts killed four policemen, while another bomb, this one targeting Sahwa anti-al-Qaeda militiamen, killed one fighter and wounded four.

Sahwa joined forces with US troops at the height of the Iraq war to fight al-Qaeda. Iraqi troops and Sahwa fighters have been a favorite target for Sunni fighters, who consider them to be traitors.

Gunmen also killed a Justice Ministry employee as he was driving home from work in western Baghdad.

In the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a car bomb in a residential area killed two people, while a magnetic “sticky bomb” attached to a car killed its driver.

Officials have voiced concern over a resurgent al-Qaeda emboldened by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has provided jihadist fighters in Iraq with rear bases to plan operations.

The government and security forces have insisted that raids and operations across much of western and northern Iraq, areas dominated by Iraq’s Sunni minority, are having an impact.

But diplomats, analysts and rights groups say the government is not doing enough to address the root causes of the unrest, particularly disquiet among Sunnis over alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led authorities.