26 killed in latest wave of Iraq car bombings

Twenty-six people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a wave of car bombs in Baghdad, the latest attacks in a months-long surge in violence.

Attacks have been on the increase in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown in April on a Sunni protest camp. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence during the past few months, raising fears that Iraq could see a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

In the deadliest of the blasts across the capital today, police said one bomb struck near a bus station in the northern Shiite area of Khazimiyah, killing six people and wounding 18.

Another car bomb exploded near a gathering of daily labourers in the Allawi area, near the fortified Green Zone where government offices are located, killing five people and injuring 13.

In eastern Baghdad, five people were killed and 15 others wounded when a car bomb went off near a traffic police office.

A car bomb also hit a row of shops in the Bab al-Muadham area, killing four people and injuring 12.

In western Baghdad, a sticky bomb attached to a cart selling gas cylinders killed three people and wounded eight others.

A car bomb hit near vehicle repair workshops in the capital’s north-eastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing three people and wounding 15, police said.

Mohammed Sabri, a retired government employee, was on his way to the market in Husseiniyah when he heard a thunderous explosion.

“I got closer and saw burning cars, two charred bodies and several people on the ground,” he said. “Security officials keep telling us that their forces are able to protect us, but this has not happened yet.”

Medical officials in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures.

Iraqi security forces have imposed tight security measures in and around the capital since two brazen jailbreaks in July, but so far these measures have failed to stop the attacks.