Echoes of sectarian war as 49 Iraqis killed

BAGHDAD, Nov 27, (Agencies): Suicide bombings and other attacks killed 30 people in Iraq Wednesday, and authorities found the bodies of 19 others shot dead in Baghdad, scenes eerily reminiscent of the country’s gruesome sectarian war.

The latest violence, just months ahead of landmark elections, pushed the number of slain so far this year above 6,000 as the country endures its worst prolonged spate of bloodshed since 2008.

Although there have been no claims of responsibility for much of the unrest, authorities are concerned about a resurgent al-Qaeda, emboldened by the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.

Most of the violence struck Baghdad and Sunni Arab areas of northern and western Iraq, which have borne the brunt of the months-long spike in bloodletting.

Four suicide bombers detonated their explosives, but the carnage could have been much worse because security forces shot dead several would-be suicide attackers.

Meanwhile, in two separate areas of the capital, police found the bodies of 14 men, all in their 20s or 30s, and all shot dead, medical officials said.

Eight of the corpses were found blindfolded in the mostly Sunni Dura neighbourhood, while six others had been dumped in a canal in mostly Shiite Shuala.

In the northern district of Hurriyah, a family of five — three men and two women — were shot dead in their home in a pre-dawn attack.

At the peak of sectarian fighting, Sunni and Shiite militiamen would regularly carry out tit-for-tat kidnap- pings and assassinations and leave scores of corpses littering the streets, many of them bound, blindfolded and showing signs of torture.

Shootings, bombings and mortar fire in various other parts of the capital left five others dead Wednesday.

Elsewhere, shootings and bombings — including four suicide attacks — killed 25 people.

In Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, a man blew himself up in the middle of a funeral, killing nine people.

In northern Diyala province, a vehicle rigged with explosives and detonated by a suicide attacker killed three members of Kurdish peshmerga forces.

Two separate attacks involving multiple suicide bombers against police near Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killed at least seven policemen and left 15 others wounded.