SCORES KILLED IN BOMB ATTACKS ON IRAQI SUNNIS

Baghdad, 8 Rajab 1434/18 May 2013 (MINA) – At least 76 people have been killed in bombings, Friday, in majority Sunni districts in Baghdad and surrounding areas. Official said this day is the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months. The spike in violence has raised fears the country could be on the path to a new round of sectarian bloodshed.

In the deadliest attack on Friday, twin bombings near a Sunni mosque in Baquba, north of Baghdad, killed 41 people and injured dozens.

Police said that one bomb exploded as worshippers were departing the Saria mosque while a second went off after people gathered at the scene of the first blast.

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Television aired footage of bodies on the ground outside the mosque, pools of blood and the scattered shoes of the victims, according to Al Jazeera reports received by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

“I was about 30 metres from the first explosion. When the first exploded, I ran to help them, and the second one went off. I saw bodies flying and I had shrapnel in my neck,” said Hashim Munjiz, a college student, at the site.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Friday’s attacks pushed the three-day Iraqi death toll to 130, including Shias at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the two Islamic branches in 2006-2007 that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

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Baghdad bombings

In Baghdad, a bomb exploded near a shopping centre during evening rush hour in the mainly Sunni neighbourhood of Amariyah, killing at least 12 people and wounding 32.

That was followed by another bomb in a commercial district in Dora, another Sunni neighbourhood, which killed two people and wounded 22, according to officials.

In another attack, a roadside bomb exploded during a Sunni funeral procession in Madain, south of Baghdad, killing eight mourners and wounding 11, police said.

An explosion also struck a cafe in Fallujah, 65km west of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine, according to police and hospital officials.

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A day earlier, attacks targeted Shias in several locations.

Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting against what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the mainly Shia-led government, including random detentions and neglect.

The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north on April 23. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).