Dozens dead and wounded in Iraq bombings

A series of attacks in Iraq have killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 100, according to local officials, the latest in a wave of deadly attacks this month.

The worst incident was a car bombing in a popular market in Baghdad, the capital, which left eight people dead and 30 wounded, according to police and medical sources.

“There were bodies scattered everywhere,” a police officer told the Reuters news agency. “I feel like my clothes are completely covered in blood and the smell of it is in my nose.”

Another car bomb exploded near a Shia place of worship in Baquba north of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 51. 

That attack came after a bombing elsewhere in Baquba killed two people and wounded four, according to a police officer.

“The rescue teams are stil trying to retrieve corpses from under the rubble,” said a health ministry source.

Baquba is the capital of Diyala province, a fertile agricultural area which has long been one of the country’s most volatile regions, inhabited by a mix of Sunnis, Shia and Kurds.

Deadly month

A further car bomb killed two people and wounded 15 in Taji, also north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

In Samarra, farther north, gunmen killed two members of a pro-government Awakening militia and wounded two more at a roadblock. 

Meanwhile, five people were wounded in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, when a car bomb exploded in a parking area belonging to a state-run immigration office, police and a medical source said.

Thursday’s deaths brought to more than 200 the number of people killed since June 13 – a far higher toll than the 132 killed in the entire month of May.

Attacks on June 13, which killed 72 people across the country, were later claimed by al-Qaeda’s front group, the Islamic State of Iraq.

More recently, twelve people were killed in bombings across Baghdad on Wednesday, one of which targeted the leader of another pro-government militia.