46 killed in wave of Iraqi violence
BAGHDAD: Bombings and shootings across Iraq killed 46 people, striking at police and Shi’ite pilgrims in a torrent of violence that officials had dreaded in the run-up to a Baghdad meeting of the Arab world’s top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation’s stability.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which also wounded more than 200 people. But authorities have feared al-qaeda or its Sunni sympathisers would try to thwart next week’s annual Arab League summit.
The gathering is to be held in Iraq for the first time in a generation. Plans for Baghdad to host the meeting last year were postponed, in part because of concerns about security.
One of the deadliest strikes yesterday hit the Shi’ite holy city of Karbala, where officials said two car bombs exploded in a crowded shopping and restaurant area. Thirteen people were killed and another 50 were wounded in that attack, said local provincial council member Hussein Shadhan al-aboudi.
“The intention of these attacks is to destabilise the security situation in Karbala and other Iraqi cities and to shake the people’s confidence on the government,” al-aboudi said. “It seems that the terrorists want to abort the upcoming Arab Summit in Baghdad. The message is directed to the Arab leaders that Iraq is not safe enough to be visited.”
Karbala, 80km south of Baghdad, is a destination for thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims from around the world who visit the golden shrines of two revered imams each day. Five Iranian pilgrims were among the dead. The wave of violence began after dawn. Militants blew up the house of a police official in the western city of Fallujah, planted bombs near the fortified Green Zone and shot up a security checkpoint in Baghdad, set off an explosion at a police station in the northern city of Kirkuk and attacked restaurants and shopping areas in two southern towns.
In all, eight cities were hit in attacks that mostly appeared to target police and government officials.
Thirteen people, most of them policemen, were killed in Kirkuk. An additional 59 were wounded. Kirkuk is 290km north of Baghdad.
Extremists have launched large-scale attacks every few weeks for nearly a year. The violence now is nowhere as frequent as it was during the tit-for-tat sectarian fighting a few years ago.