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Iraq: Wave of bomb attacks causes chaos
(AKI) - Six people were wounded in a suicide car bomb attack on an army checkpoint in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul late Thursday. It was the third terrorist attack to strike Iraq within hours in a fresh wave of violence across the country.According to the news agency, Voices of Iraq, a car rigged with explosives driven by a suicide bomber targeted an Iraqi army checkpoint in the neighbourhood of Hadbaa, in northern Mosul, 400 kms north of Baghdad. Six people, including two women and an infant were among the injured, who were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment. Earlier on Thursday, at least 10 people were killed and 45 others were wounded in a powerful bomb blast in a busy cattle market in central Iraq. The bomb exploded inside a car, parked at the al-Medhatiaya market, located in the town of Hamza in a mainly Shia community, 130 kms south of Baghdad in the province of Babil. No-one claimed responsibility for the attack, which was one of the worst attacks to strike Iraq in recent months. While it was not clear who was behind the bomb attack, many analysts said it may have been carried out by Al-Qaeda-linked militants who favour heavily-populated areas. Babil province has a mixed population of Shia and Sunni Muslims and has been the target of serious sectarian violence and attacks on US forces in the past. The US military handed over control of security in the province to Iraqi forces last October. In a separate incident on Thursday, unidentified gunmen shot and killed an Iraqi policeman in Baghdad, according to the news agency Voices of Iraq. The attackers escaped. Another car bomb exploded in the western Mosul neighbourhood of al-Abar but no-one was injured in the attack. Although attacks have fallen in war-torn Iraq recently, levels of violence are still high, particularly in Baghdad and other cities. Posted by: Fred 2009-03-06 |
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