Residents gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad yesterday.
BAGHDAD: A series of bombings across Baghdad were the deadliest in a spate of nationwide attacks that killed 47 people yesterday, as Iraq struggles with its worst violence since 2008. At least eight car bombs and several roadside bombs struck the capital just before Iraqis broke their daytime Ramadan fast, the latest in brutal violence during the holy month that has left hundreds dead.
The blasts came barely two weeks after militants staged audacious raids on two prisons near Baghdad, freeing hundreds of inmates, including convicted jihadists — an operation claimed by an Al Qaeda front group.
In Baghdad, bombings hit a variety of targets including shops and a market, in mainly Sunni and mainly Shia districts as well as confessionally mixed neighbourhoods, from around 5.30pm.
In all, 31 people were killed and 120 wounded, security and medical officials said.
In the central commercial district of Karrada, a car bomb killed five people and badly damaged store fronts and a nearby vehicle, an AFP correspondent reported.
Ten other people were killed by a late night car bomb that ripped through a packed commercial street just north of Baquba, the capital of restive Diyala province, officials said.
Prime Minister Nouri
Al Maliki vowed to continue operations against the militants, in a statement issued just before the attacks began.
“We will not leave our children to these murderers and those standing behind them and supporting both inside and outside,” Maliki said.
“Iraq and Iraqis will not be victims of takfiri fatwas,” he said, referring to religious rulings issued by extremists.
Violence has risen sharply in recent months, with almost 1,000 people killed in July, according to official figures, the worst violence since Iraq was emerging from a brutal sectarian war in 2008.
The attacks have mostly hit north of Baghdad, but the capital has not been spared. AFP
