Iraq hit by wave of bombings

A triple bombing hit the main Baghdad office of an anti-Western Shiite cleric today in the deadliest of a series of attacks across Iraq that killed more than 40 people and wounded another 200.

The violence came days after Iraqi authorities announced the killings of the top two al Qaida in Iraq leaders in what was seen as a major blow to the insurgency.

At least 25 people were killed in the attack on Muqtada al-Sadr’s office compound as worshippers were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers. An estimated 150 people were wounded.

Bombings elsewhere in Iraq – most of them targeting Shiite worshippers – killed 19 other people in one of the deadliest days the country has seen in weeks.

Targeting Shiite mosques is a hallmark of the Sunni-dominated terrorist group al Qaida in Iraq.

Explosions outside three Shiite mosques in Baghdad, all timed around the end of Friday’s prayers, appeared to be the work of insurgents looking to inflame sectarian tensions.

Iraqi Sunnis also were targeted: A ring of bombs planted around the homes of policemen in the western town of Khalidiya killed seven in a pre-dawn attack, including an Iraqi soldier and a woman.

It was one of the most deadly days in Iraq in weeks, underscoring the state of its anaemic security.

In the slums of Baghdad’s Sadr City, two parked car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded around 1.30pm near the office of al-Sadr. His followers, hard-line religious Shiites, use the building for Friday prayers, the main worship service of the week.