More than 30 dead in string of Iraq bomb attacks
At least 32 people have died in a string of bomb attacks across Iraq today, police and hospital sources have said.
The attacks, which mainly targeted police checkpoints, took place in different locations across Iraq. The most deadly explosions were in Taji (pictured, left), 12 miles north of Baghdad, where bombs in three separate parked cars exploded. Eleven people died and 24 were wounded.
Following the Tajis attack, a suicide bomber set off an explosives-packed car in the Shiite neighborhood of Shula in northwest Baghdad. At least one person was killed and seven wounded.
In Baghdad, three separate bombs killed eight people including a police officer.
In Kut, located 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, another suicide bomber drove a minivan into a security checkpoint and detonated explosives (pictured, left). Four police officers were killed.
Another policeman was killed when security forces tried to defuse a car bomb parked on the main highway between the cities of Kirkuk and Tuz Khormato, police said. A second policeman was wounded in the blast.
A parked car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims in the town of Madain, 12 miles southeast of Baghdad, police and health official said. The attack killed three Iraqis and injured scores of others.
Police were targeted in a car bomb attack in the town of Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad. A car bomb was detonated as a police patrol went past – killing two and injuring seven others. In the nearby town of Khan Bani Saad, another parked car bomb exploded near a market and killed one civilian and injured nine others. Further attacks around the country killed four people and left many more wounded.
No terrorist organisation has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Bloody month
The attacks come at the end of a bloody month in Iraq and the wider Middle East region. Taji was the location of a car bomb attack in June this year. Four people died and 20 were wounded when a car exploded near a government building on 28 June.
On 9 September a wave of gun and car bomb attacks left 58 people dead. The violence took place in 11 cities and wounded 240 people. More than 100 people were also killed in a string of gun and bomb attacks on 23 July.
In Afghanistan, there were a string of attacks over September including a suicide bomb attack on a minivan which was carrying airport workers, and a number of attacks by Afghan forces or people dressed in Afghan uniforms against Nato troops.