Asia

Asia

Violence in Iraq kills 1, wounds 15

07 September 2010 00:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A string of bombings and shootings across Baghdad Monday left at least one Iraqi military officer dead and wounded more than a dozen civilians and soldiers, an Interior Ministry official said Monday, APA reports quoting CNN.
The widespread violence came a day after a bold attack by insurgents in the heart of the capital.
Gunmen killed a senior Iraqi officer in western Baghdad early on Monday, as they opened fire on a brigadier general while he was driving his car in al-Ameriya.
In western Baghdad’s Harthiya neighborhood, gunmen using silencers wounded a senior Ministry of Agriculture employee as he was leaving his home in al-Harthiya neighborhood.
Such attacks, targeting government and security officials, have been on the rise in recent months.
A double bombing in western Baghdad’s Ghazaliya neighborhood Monday wounded at least 15 Iraqis. First, a roadside bomb targeting civilians detonated, which was followed by a second blast when security forces responded to the scene. Six Iraqi soldiers, four policemen and five civilians were wounded.
In southern Baghdad’s Dora district, a roadside bomb hit a convoy of a private Iraqi security company, wounding at least two civilian bystanders and damaging one vehicle.
At least three others were wounded in overnight violence, the official said.
Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in western Baghdad, wounding a policeman, while a bomb attached to a civilian vehicle wounded its two occupants.
The bombing comes at a time of increased attacks across Iraq and political uncertainty. Iraqi politicians have been unable to form a government six months after the country’s inconclusive national elections.
There have been concerns that insurgents would take advantage of the political vacuum to try and reignite the sectarian bloodshed that gripped Iraq for years.
On Sunday, at least five suicide bombers carried out a coordinated and complex attack on an Iraqi military headquarters in central Baghdad killing up to 12 people and wounding dozens.
The assault by what the U.S. military believes were al-Qaeda in Iraq militants, also drew American forces into the fight four days after President Barack Obama announced an official end to America’s combat mission in Iraq.
Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told CNN on Sunday that U.S. forces based at the compound that came under attack "provided suppressive fire" along with Iraqi forces as two of the bombers managed to gain access to the base.
The brazen attack in broad daylight underscored the fragility of the security situation and the dangers both Iraqis and Americans still face daily.
While overall violence in Iraq has dropped drastically over the past two years with the insurgency being dealt devastating blows, it has proven its ability to still carry out daring and deadly attacks across the country.
On August 28, the Iraqi government announced there were plots by al Qaeda and other groups to carry out attacks across the country and called on security forces and citizens to be on high alert.