More than 80 killed in attacks across Iraq
View Photo Gallery — More than 80 people were killed and dozens injured Monday in a string of attacks around Iraq.
By Annie Gowen and Asaad Majeed, Published: August 15 | Updated: Tuesday, August 16, 3:20 AM
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BAGHDAD - More than 80 people were killed and dozens more were wounded Monday in a string of violent attacks around Iraq, the deadliest day in the country so far this year, police and government officials said.
In the worst incident, two bombs exploded in a busy market in the city center of Kut, killing at least 42 and injuring more than 50.
Video
A new wave of violence has ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities from the north to the south Monday, killing nearly 70 people in multiple blasts. (Aug. 15)
In an apparently coordinated series of attacks Monday morning, bombs had exploded from the northern city of Kirkuk to the pricey Mansour district of Baghdad and south to Najaf. Elsewhere, AK-47 wielding assailants targeted anti-terror leaders in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad.
As night fell on the capital, the violence continued when men wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered a mosque in Yusufiya, a town near Baghdad, and executed seven men in the middle of their evening prayers for the holy month of Ramadan. They left a note saying the killings were carried out by the the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni extremist group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
The bloody day came after a period of relative quiet in the country, which had descended as Ramadan began in early August.
Lt. Col. Hachem Neama Abbas, an Iraqi army commander in Baghdad, said the military had been bracing for a new round of violence. The attacks, he said, are proof that insurgents still pose a threat to the country’s stability. They also raise questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to maintain security as American troops prepare to leave the country by December.
“This wave of explosions and attacks is evidence that al-Qaeda is still effective,” Abbas said.
Iraq is debating whether or not to ask a small contingent of U.S. forces to stay past the deadline, but no official request has been made yet, U.S. authorities have said.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, Major Angela L. Funaro, said that while it was too early to speculate on the groups behind the day's violence, it was “eerily similar” to a large-scale attack last year during Ramadan. Then, al-Qaeda insurgents targeted checkpoints and Iraqi forces in several cities, killing at least 53.
Monday’s worst violence happened in Kut, a large city in central Iraq about 100 miles from Baghdad. Insurgents detonated a sound bomb in a crowded area near a jewelry store at about 8:45 a.m., said Hassan Abdul Zahra Al-Wailey, a spokesman for the local police.
Moments later, a car bomb exploded in the same place, killing 37, including 12 children. Some of the children had been in the area selling bags to those buying produce at the market.
Ali Al-abbudi, 31, a local journalist, happened to be in the market when the blast occurred and was stunned by the “horror of the scene.”
“There were chopped heads or legs, bodies were blown off and scattered around everywhere,” he said.
In Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, 13 people, including four Iraqi army officers, were killed in a series of car bombs, explosions and shootings.
In Tikrit, a man dressed in a traffic police uniform blew himself up at the main gate of the city’s counter-terrorism facility. In the melee that followed, another bomber detonated explosives, killing and injuring many who had rushed to help. In all nine died, including a high-ranking anti-terror official.
Elsewhere, three were killed in a series of car bombings in Baghdad, and nine killed in attacks on government facilities in Najaf and Karbala.
Kirkuk, a city north of Baghdad, saw three explosions — including a car bomb that killed one person and a explosion near a church that injured four.
================================================
View Photo Gallery — More than 80 people were killed and dozens injured Monday in a string of attacks around Iraq.
By Annie Gowen and Asaad Majeed, Published: August 15 | Updated: Tuesday, August 16, 3:20 AM
======================================================
BAGHDAD - More than 80 people were killed and dozens more were wounded Monday in a string of violent attacks around Iraq, the deadliest day in the country so far this year, police and government officials said.
In the worst incident, two bombs exploded in a busy market in the city center of Kut, killing at least 42 and injuring more than 50.
Video
A new wave of violence has ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities from the north to the south Monday, killing nearly 70 people in multiple blasts. (Aug. 15)
In an apparently coordinated series of attacks Monday morning, bombs had exploded from the northern city of Kirkuk to the pricey Mansour district of Baghdad and south to Najaf. Elsewhere, AK-47 wielding assailants targeted anti-terror leaders in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad.
As night fell on the capital, the violence continued when men wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered a mosque in Yusufiya, a town near Baghdad, and executed seven men in the middle of their evening prayers for the holy month of Ramadan. They left a note saying the killings were carried out by the the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni extremist group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
The bloody day came after a period of relative quiet in the country, which had descended as Ramadan began in early August.
Lt. Col. Hachem Neama Abbas, an Iraqi army commander in Baghdad, said the military had been bracing for a new round of violence. The attacks, he said, are proof that insurgents still pose a threat to the country’s stability. They also raise questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to maintain security as American troops prepare to leave the country by December.
“This wave of explosions and attacks is evidence that al-Qaeda is still effective,” Abbas said.
Iraq is debating whether or not to ask a small contingent of U.S. forces to stay past the deadline, but no official request has been made yet, U.S. authorities have said.
A spokesman for the U.S. military in Iraq, Major Angela L. Funaro, said that while it was too early to speculate on the groups behind the day's violence, it was “eerily similar” to a large-scale attack last year during Ramadan. Then, al-Qaeda insurgents targeted checkpoints and Iraqi forces in several cities, killing at least 53.
Monday’s worst violence happened in Kut, a large city in central Iraq about 100 miles from Baghdad. Insurgents detonated a sound bomb in a crowded area near a jewelry store at about 8:45 a.m., said Hassan Abdul Zahra Al-Wailey, a spokesman for the local police.
Moments later, a car bomb exploded in the same place, killing 37, including 12 children. Some of the children had been in the area selling bags to those buying produce at the market.
Ali Al-abbudi, 31, a local journalist, happened to be in the market when the blast occurred and was stunned by the “horror of the scene.”
“There were chopped heads or legs, bodies were blown off and scattered around everywhere,” he said.
In Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, 13 people, including four Iraqi army officers, were killed in a series of car bombs, explosions and shootings.
In Tikrit, a man dressed in a traffic police uniform blew himself up at the main gate of the city’s counter-terrorism facility. In the melee that followed, another bomber detonated explosives, killing and injuring many who had rushed to help. In all nine died, including a high-ranking anti-terror official.
Elsewhere, three were killed in a series of car bombings in Baghdad, and nine killed in attacks on government facilities in Najaf and Karbala.
Kirkuk, a city north of Baghdad, saw three explosions — including a car bomb that killed one person and a explosion near a church that injured four.
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Special correspondents Aziz Alwan in Baghdad, Sa’ad Sarhan in Najaf, Othman Almukhtar in Anbar province and Hassan Alshimmari in Diyala province contributed to this report
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