BAGHDAD: Violence in Iraq, including the shelling of a militant-held city, a suicide bombing and shootings, killed 20 people yesterday as officials tallied votes from last month’s parliamentary election.
Shelling in Fallujah, which has been held by anti-government fighters for more than four months, killed 11 people and wounded 20, according to Dr Ahmed Shami of the city’s main hospital.
The source of the fire was not immediately clear.
The casualties come a day after Iraqi forces launched an operation to retake areas near Fallujah, which lies just a short drive west of Baghdad, in preparation for an eventual assault.
Security forces claimed to have killed 50 militants in a series of operations around Fallujah yesterday, according to interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan, who added that they had also destroyed several insurgent hideouts.
For months, the authorities have trumpeted wide-ranging anti-militant operations, insisting they are making an impact, and have been quick to blame external factors such as the civil war in neighbouring Syria for the rise in bloodshed.
But analysts and diplomats say the Shia-led government must also do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni minority in order to undermine support for militancy.
And while officials have mooted an assault on Fallujah, such an operation is unlikely to occur soon, as security forces have struggled all year to regain territory in Anbar province, of which Fallujah is a part, from militants.
And they would face a major challenge to recapture the city without causing civilian casualties and significant damage to infrastructure.
Elsewhere yesterday, a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle at a checkpoint in the town of Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing at seven people and wounding at least 20.
And separate shootings in the northern province of Nineveh killed two others.
AFP
