Deadly bomb blasts hit Iraq

Series of explosions kills at least 18 people in Baghdad and western city of Ramadi.

Car bobm blast in Ramadi
The western city of Ramadi has been hit by two consecutive days of bomb blasts [AFP]

Other blasts in the Bab Al-Muadham and Doura areas of the capital killed at least three people.

Later, two homemade bombs exploded in Huseiniya district in Northern Baghdad, killing five people.

In total, 100 people were injured in Tuesday’s attacks.

Ramadi emergency

In a second straight day of deadly attacks in Ramadi, three people were killed and 10 wounded in a double car bombing outside a restaurant, hospital officials and police said.

The fronts of the restaurants were severely damaged in the blasts and blood stained the ground nearby, a Reuters witness said. Streets emptied amid fears of another attack.

At least 10 people were killed on Monday, including seven police officers and a soldier in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, and in the northern city of Mosul.

A state of emergency was declared after the latest attack and vehicles were banned from the city, police said.

Violence has dropped significantly in recent months, but attacks reached a peak in the weeks before US combat troops withdrew from the centres of Iraqi towns and cities.

An estimated 437 Iraqis were killed in June, the highest death toll in 11 months, and the near daily attacks have continued in July.

Tuesday’s attacks came as Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, set off for Washington to meet Barack Obama, the US president.

The White House has said Obama will meet al-Maliki on Wednesday and talks will focus on the political reconciliation that is necessary for Iraq to make progress after years of war.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies