BAGHDAD: Iraq attacks, including a market bombing and the assassination of a former MP, killed 34 people yesterday as France offered to help combat a surge in bloodshed ahead of elections.
The protracted rise in violence, which has seen at least 500 people killed already this month, has fuelled fears Iraq is on the brink of plunging back into the brutal Sunni-Shia sectarian war that plagued it years ago.
Yesterday’s attacks struck the capital and predominantly Sunni Arab areas north of Baghdad that have borne the brunt of the worsening unrest, which has killed more than 5,900 people this year.
The deadliest was at a local market in the Sadriyah neighbourhood of central Baghdad, where an evening bombing killed at least 15 people and wounded 36 others as Iraqis gathered at restaurants and cafes and to shop.
Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki nevertheless used a recent trip to Washington to push for greater intelligence sharing and the timely delivery of new weapons systems in a bid to combat militants. Turkey has also pledged to help, and France offered weapons, training and intelligence cooperation.
“We are absolutely willing to help Iraq in its fight against terrorism, in terms of equipment, training, intelligence, and care for the wounded,” French Ambassador to Baghdad Denys Gauer said in a speech marking the visit of a French trade delegation. Asked after his speech at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone if that help included the sale of weapons, Gauer responded: “Yes, of course.”
