44 die in Iraq blasts ahead of Arab League summit

Bombings across Iraq killed 44 people today, striking at police and Shiite pilgrims in a torrent of violence that officials had dreaded in the run-up to a meeting in Baghdad of the Arab world’s top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation’s stability.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, in which nearly 200 other people were injured, but authorities have feared al Qaida or its Sunni sympathisers would try to thwart next week’s annual Arab League summit.