A wave of car bombings and other attacks in Iraq killed at least 53 people in mostly Shi’ite-majority cities, another bloody reminder of the government’s failure to stem the surge of violence that is feeding sectarian tensions.
Iraq is experiencing its deadliest bout of violence since 2008, raising fears the country is returning to a period of widespread killing such as that which pushed it to the brink of civil war following the 2003 US-led invasion.
More than 4,000 people have been killed in attacks since the start of April, including 804 in August, according to United Nations figures.
Yesterday’s deadliest attack was in the city of Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad, where a car bomb near an outdoor market killed nine civilians and wounded 15 others, a police officer said.
A few minutes later, another car bomb went off nearby, killing six civilians and wounding 14, he added.
In the nearby town of Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the capital, another car bomb hit a car park, killing four civilians and wounding nine, police said.
Another car bomb went off in an industrial area of the Shi’ite city of Karbala, killing five and wounding 25, a police officer said. Karbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad.
In Kut, another Shi’ite-dominated city 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, a car bomb targeted construction workers and food stalls, killing two and wounding 14, another provincial police officer said.
Seven more civilians were killed and 31 others were wounded when four separate car bombs ripped through the towns of Suwayrah and Hafriyah outside Kut, police said.
In Baghdad’s northern Sunni-dominated Azamiyah neighbourhood, a car bomb that exploded near the convoy of the head of Baghdad’s provincial council killed three and wounded eight, police say.
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.