Baghdad mortar attack claims lives

Mortar bombs hit a market in the Iraqi capital, killing and wounding many people.

IRAQ-UNREST-BLAST-WOUNDED-girl
Even children are not safe from the unremittingviolence sweeping Iraq's mixed provinces

In a western Baghdad district, armed men have attempted to assassinate Brigadier-General Mohsen Qassim, the head of the security force of Iraq‘s Sunni-controlled ministry of higher education, but only killed his driver.

 

The spate of attacks come on the day that the United States Institute for Peace, chaired by James Baker III, issued a report that recommends new tactics for curbing bloodshed in Iraq and suggests a pull out plan for US troops.

 

Tuesday’s toll

 

Your Views

“The dire situation in Iraq has reached the point of no return. No matter what the US does, the killing will continue until the Iraqis themselves decide enough is enough, and opt for dialogue and reconciliation.”

Nehad Ismail, London, UK

Wednesday’s violence follows the killing of 30 people in central Baghdad on Tuesday.

 

Armed men killed 14 employees of a Shia religious foundation in the Iraqi capital, while three car bombs killed 16 people in a separate attack near a petrol station in a religiously mixed area.

 

The employees of the Shia foundation were killed when their bus was ambushed, Salah Abdul Razzaq, a spokesman for the organisation said.

 

Interior ministry sources said the attackers first set off a car bomb and then sprayed the bus with bullets on a highway in northern Baghdad.

 

In the attack on the petrol station, three car bombs were detonated one after the other in southwest Baghdad.

 

The explosions occurred in Biyaa, a mixed Sunni Arab and Shia section of the city.

 

The patchwork of Sunni and Shia neighbourhoods in southwest Baghdad is a frequent site of clashes between rival armed gangs.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies