Iraq Wave Violence Continues: More than 53 Martyred

Local Editor

A wave of car bombings and other attacks in Iraq martyred at least 53 people on Sunday.

More than 4,000 people have died since the start of April, including 804 just in August, according to the UN.
Sunday's deadliest attack was in the city of Hilla, 60 miles south of Baghdad, where a car bomb near an outdoor market martyred nine and wounded 15, a police officer said. A few minutes later, another car bomb went off nearby, martyring six and wounding 14.

In the nearby town of Iskandariya, 30 miles south of the capital, a bomb went off in a car park, martyring four and wounding nine, police said. Another car bomb went off in an industrial area of the Holy city of Kerbala, martyring five and wounding 25, a police officer said. Kerbala is 50 miles south of Baghdad. In the aftermath, security officials inspected burnt-out cars in front of what appeared to be a smashed row of workshops.

In Kut, 100 miles south-east of Baghdad, a car bomb targeted construction workers and food stalls, martyring two and wounding 14, another provincial police officer said.
Seven more civilians were martyred and 31 others were wounded when four separate car bombs ripped through the towns of Suwayra and Hafriya outside Kut, police said.

In Baghdad's northern Azamiya neighbourhood, a car bomb that exploded near the convoy of the head of Baghdad's provincial council martyred three and wounded eight, police say. The council head escaped unharmed.
Two other car bombs hit the southern cities of Basra and Nassiriya, martyring eight civilians and wounding 26, two police officers said. And two more civilians were killed when a bomb hit a police patrol in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib. Nine other people were wounded.

To the north-east of Baghdad, gunmen broke into a farm in the village of Abu Sayda and killed three farmers, police said
No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, which targeted commercial areas and parking lots in seven cities. But systematically organized waves of bombings are often used by al-Qaeda's local branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, to undermine confidence in government.

Sometimes insurgents launch multiple attacks for two or more days in a row. On Saturday, 27 people were killed in suicide attacks, bombings and shootings.
Eleven medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All spoke anonymously as they weren't authorized to release information.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team