Another day of bombings, clashes kills at least 42

BAGHDAD — Bombings targeting shoppers across central Iraq and clashes near the militantheld city of Fallujah killed at least 42 people Thursday, authorities said.

No one claimed responsibility for the string of bombings that began Thursday afternoon, mostly from parked car bombs and one explosive planted in an outdoor market. However, they bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents, who frequently use car bombs and suicide attacks to target public areas and government buildings in their bid to undermine confidence in the Shiiteled government.

In Baghdad, a car bomb targeting shoppers in the southwestern Amil neighborhood killed seven people and wounded 17, police said. A bomb at a cafe in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood killed four people and wounded 15, authorities said. A bomb in a commercial street in central Baghdad killed three people and wounded 13, police said, while an explosion near the Green Zone killed three people and wounded eight.

The attacks came a day after a series of explosions killed at least 24 people in different parts of Iraq. Such bombings have increased since last year, along with Sunni anger over perceived mistreatment and random arrests of Sunnis by the authorities.

After authorities broke up a Sunni protest camp in December, they pulled security forces out of Fallujah and the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi to relieve tension there. However, that allowed al Qaeda-linked fighters and their allies to seize Fallujah and parts of Ramadi.

On Thursday, clashes outside of Fallujah between militants and Iraqi security forces killed at least five people and wounded 13, a local hospital there said.

Last year, the country saw the highest death toll since the worst of the country’s sectarian bloodletting, according to the United Nations, with 8,868 people killed. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Iraq in January and February alone, according to the U.N., not counting those killed around Fallujah and Ramadi.