BAGHDAD: A bomb targeting Sunni mourners in Baghdad killed 15 people yesterday.
The blast in Adhamiyah, a Sunni area of north Baghdad, wounded 30 people, while violence elsewhere in the country killed five more, officials said.
Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said in a statement released earlier yesterday that attacks in Iraq aimed to “reignite sectarian strife” and divide the country.
The US embassy issued a statement yesterday condemning recent attacks on mourners, saying that they “remind us of the formidable security challenges that Iraq faces.”
More attacks struck northern Iraq yesterday.
A bomb exploded near an ambulance that was carrying a pregnant woman to a hospital near the city of Mosul, wounding her and the driver and killing one of her relatives and a medic.
The woman was in labour at the time of the blast. Her child, a boy, was delivered by Caesarian section and was in good health, a medical source said.
Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, is one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, with militants carrying out near-daily attacks.
Insurgents have a major presence in Mosul and are said to extort money from shop owners in the city.
Gunmen killed a tribal sheikh and another man in Mosul yesterday, and a farmer near Baiji to its south was also shot dead.
Violence in Iraq has reached a level this year not seen since 2008, a surge in unrest that authorities have so far failed to stem.
With the latest violence, more than 600 people have been killed this month and over 4,400 since the beginning of the year, according to figures based on security and medical sources.
In addition to major security problems, the Iraqi government has also failed to provide adequate basic services such as electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread. Political squabbling has paralysed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years.
AFP
