Winks Blog

About 60 Iraqis Killed In Violent Attacks Today

Good afternoon,

BAGHAD, Iraq - Suicide bombers struck Tuesday across the street from the heavily guarded Green Zone, killing up to 16 people _ the deadliest attack in a wave of bombings and shootings that threatened to shatter confidence in Iraq's new government.

In all, about 60 people died in more than a dozen bombings, shootings and ambushes _ mostly in the Baghdad area, according to police reports. The dead included 10 Shiites slain by gunmen who fired on their bus as it left the capital for a funeral in southern Iraq, police said.

Much of the violence Tuesday appeared sectarian, part of a surge in tit-for-tat killings that began Sunday when Shiite gunmen rampaged through a mostly Sunni area of west Baghdad, killing 41 people, according to police.

Throughout Tuesday, car bombs detonated and mortar shells exploded in Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods across the sprawling capital. Most caused few deaths and injuries but collectively the toll was high, suggesting that U.S. and Iraqi forces are powerless to stop the violence soon.

As night fell, police reported explosions and gunfire in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah. Bursts of heavy machine-gun fire could be heard intermittently late Tuesday from along the Tigris River that flows through the center of the city.

More than 1,607 Iraqis have been killed and nearly 2,500 wounded since al-Maliki's government took office May 20, according to an Associated Press count

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 2:15 PM