16 Killed In Iraqi Multiple Bombings

Iraq

Multiple bombings in Iraq have killed at least 16 people and wounded several more, security and medical officials say.

At least six people were killed and 29 others wounded on Wednesday due to a series of car bombs in Shia-majority areas of Baghdad, including the northern districts of Kadhimiya and Sadr city and Mashtal and Baghdad Jadida in the capital’s east.

Earlier on Wednesday, at least 10 people were killed when two car bombs exploded near government buildings in Kirkuk.

“There were two bodies on the ground outside the building, people were shouting and mess was everywhere,” said Rawaa Rahman, a government employee in Kirkuk who was wounded in the hand by a blast.

Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area. The Kurds want to incorporate it into their self-rule region in Iraq’s north, but Arabs and Turkomen are opposed.

In Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding four people, while a roadside bomb in the north Iraq city of Mosul killed another policeman and wounded two.

Violence in Iraq has fallen from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing more than 200 people in each of the first four months of this year.