Explosions across Iraq kill more than 49 people
20 Feb 2014 4:42 AM IST
No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Shi’ites are often targeted by Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground in Iraq over the past year and overran several towns in recent weeks.
The deadliest attacks on Tuesday occurred in and around the mainly Shi’ite city of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, where 35 people were killed in seven car bomb explosions inside the city itself and the nearby towns of Haswa, Mahaweel and Mussayab.
‘I was sitting in my shop when suddenly a powerful blast smashed the front window,’ said Ali Mousa, whose mini-market was near the site of one bomb in central Hilla. ‘I went out to see what happened and saw bodies on the ground and wounded people bleeding and shouting for help’.
At least 90 people were wounded in the blasts, which Hilla police chief, Major General Abbas Abid blamed on groups linked to al Qaeda.
‘Al Qaeda terrorist groups stand behind today’s attacks in Hilla to confuse the security forces and cause high casualties among civilians,’ he said. ‘They are criminals and they never get enough of innocent blood’. Last year was Iraq’s bloodiest since sectarian violence began to abate in 2008.
Fourteen people were killed in explosions in mainly Shi’ite districts of Baghdad. In one, a bomb inside a parked vehicle exploded near a bus station in the Bayaa district, killing five people, the sources said. There were also blasts in the Amil, Ilam and Shurta districts.
The deadliest attacks on Tuesday occurred in and around the mainly Shi’ite city of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad, where 35 people were killed in seven car bomb explosions inside the city itself and the nearby towns of Haswa, Mahaweel and Mussayab.
‘I was sitting in my shop when suddenly a powerful blast smashed the front window,’ said Ali Mousa, whose mini-market was near the site of one bomb in central Hilla. ‘I went out to see what happened and saw bodies on the ground and wounded people bleeding and shouting for help’.
At least 90 people were wounded in the blasts, which Hilla police chief, Major General Abbas Abid blamed on groups linked to al Qaeda.
‘Al Qaeda terrorist groups stand behind today’s attacks in Hilla to confuse the security forces and cause high casualties among civilians,’ he said. ‘They are criminals and they never get enough of innocent blood’. Last year was Iraq’s bloodiest since sectarian violence began to abate in 2008.
Fourteen people were killed in explosions in mainly Shi’ite districts of Baghdad. In one, a bomb inside a parked vehicle exploded near a bus station in the Bayaa district, killing five people, the sources said. There were also blasts in the Amil, Ilam and Shurta districts.
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