New Wave of Violence in Iraq
Monday, August 15th, 2011At least 85 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in a series of bomb attacks in Iraqi cities. Nearly ever region of the country except the Kurdish north was touched by the violence, which appeared to target security forces in both Sunni and Shi`ite areas. (There are two major divisions of Islam, the Sunni division and Shi`ite devision.) The most deadly of the attacks was in the southeastern city of Al Kut, where two near-simultaneous explosions at a crowded market left more than 40 people dead. In Diyala province, east of Baghdad, at least 13 people were killed in a series of car bombings and shootings. In Tikrit, a man dressed in a police uniform blew himself up just outside the city’s counter-terrorism office. More died in car bombings in Baghdad, the northern city of Kirkuk, in Karbala, a city southwest of Baghdad.
Kirkuk’s provincial governor, Najmaldin Karim, responded to the attacks by calling on American troops to stay in the country past the deadline. Most U.S. troops remaining in Iraq are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011. Critics question whether Iraqi security forces will be ready to take over at the time of the pullout. There were no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but officials pointed to the al-Qa`ida in Mesopotamia terrorism organization.
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