Dozens are killed in Iraq in wave of insurgent attacks - Pittsburgh Post Gazette

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents in Iraq unleashed a relentless wave of attacks from before dawn until late at night Thursday, killing 59 people and wounding many more in a deadly show of force aimed at undermining the government's authority.

The bomb and shooting attacks made for the country's deadliest day in more than three weeks, rattling nerves as families prepared to gather for a holiday weekend. More than 150 people have been killed in violence across the country since the start of August, showing that insurgents led by al-Qaida's Iraqi franchise remain a lethal force eight months after the last U.S. troops left the country.

Five attacks accounted for more than half of the casualties.

A morning car bomb in Baghdad's northeastern and mostly Shiite neighborhood of Husseiniyah killed seven people and wounded 31.

Around midday, another car bomb struck near the headquarters of local security forces in the northern city of Daqouq. As police rushed to the scene, a roadside bomb exploded, killing seven policemen. Another 35 people were hurt, police said.

Shortly before sunset, gunmen in cars opened fire on an Iraqi army checkpoint near the town of Mishada, killing seven soldiers and wounding eight. Mishada is 20 miles north of Baghdad.

Then, about 10 p.m., a suicide bomber walked into a tea shop and blew himself up in Tal Afar, some 260 miles northwest of the capital. Mayor Abdul-Aal Abbas and local police said that blast killed seven and wounded 10.

And in Kut, a Shiite city southeast of Baghdad, a parked car exploded near a market and several restaurants late in the evening, killing seven and wounding 25 people, police and hospital officials said.

Iraqi officials are tightening security ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this weekend.

Thursday's carnage began when militants planted four bombs around the house of a military officer near the northern city of Kirkuk, according to the city's police commander, Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir. The officer escaped unharmed, but his brother was killed, and six other family members were wounded.

Hours later, a bomb in a parked car exploded near a string of restaurants, killing one and wounding 15, Gen. Qadir said.

Another parked car bomb blast targeting a police patrol followed, wounding two policemen and two bystanders. A couple hours later, two car bombs exploded simultaneously in a Kirkuk parking lot near a complex of government offices in the city's north, injuring four people. Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, is home to a combustible mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkomen. They all claim rights to the city and the oil-rich lands around it.

Daqouq, site of the midday blast, is about 19 miles south of the city.

Just north of Baghdad, in the Sunni city of Taji, yet another parked car bomb went off next to a passing police patrol, killing two civilians standing nearby.

Some 40 miles west of Baghdad, militants in speeding cars opened fire on a police patrol in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, killing four policemen and injuring three others, a police officer said.

In Baaj, a remote northwestern town near the Syrian border, gunmen shot dead two civilians walking in a market, police said.

Shortly before sunset, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi army patrol near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. killing four soldiers and wounding three. Another bomb struck near a cafe in the capital's southeastern Zafaraniyah neighborhood, killing four and wounding 15.

Later in the evening, a bomb exploded near fruit and vegetable stalls in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad, killing six civilians and wounding 32.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's apparently coordinated attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Iraqi branch.