Car bombing rock Iraq leaving dozens dead as death toll rising to highest levels since 2008
Ten car bombs exploded in Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad Sunday morning, all exploding within 40 minutes of one another. The death toll estimates are scattered but appear over 50 dead.
Forty-one civilians were killed and more than 100 others were wounded, according to security and medical officials.
Image/CIA
Most of the bombings targeted public markets and bus stations. For example, one bomb in a parked car in a neighborhood in the northwestern part of Baghdad, killed and 12 were wounded when a bomb exploded in a parked car near a public market.
Al Jazeera lists the death toll at 66, noting that 5,000 have been killed this month so far, eclipsing the previous high in April. The pace of killings in the latest surge of violence in Iraq has reached levels unseen since 2008.
Sunday’s attacks occurred just three days before Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is scheduled to arrive in Washington, where he will take part in meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
At the top of his agenda is a request for more U.S. help in the fight against the al-Qaeda affiliate, whose scope has grown to encompass neighboring Syria as well.
“We need to increase the depth and width of our cooperation, to be more agile and reflect the seriousness of the situation in Iraq,” Iraq’s ambassador to Washington, Lukman Faily, said in a telephone interview. “In our discussions, we will highlight the urgent need for the approval and quick delivery of military sales.”
