Dozens more dead in Iraq as wave of sectarian violence continues

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/22/suicide-bombing-iraq-funeral

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A suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt among Sunni mourners attending a funeral in Baghdad on Sunday, killing 16 people and wounding 35 others, officials said, in the latest episode of the country's near daily violence.

Police officials said the evening attack took place when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt inside a tent where the funeral was being held in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of Dora.

Two other attacks in the country's north left two policemen dead and 37 others wounded, the officials added.

Sunday's bloodshed came a day after a wave of attacks killed 104 people, most at a double suicide attack on a Shia funeral in Baghdad.

Violence has spiked in Iraq during the past few months. More than 4,000 people have been killed between April and August, a level of carnage not seen since the country was on the brink of civil war in 2006-08.

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a residential area in the city of Kirkuk, wounding 35 people, Kirkuk Police Brigadier Geneneral Anwar Mohammed Qadir said.

The bomber targeted both a Kurdish educational office and an adjacent house for a Christian lawmaker, Qadir said. Seven members of the lawmaker's family were wounded in the attack.

Kirkuk is home to an ethnic mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area.

Hours after the Kirkuk bombing, police said a roadside bomb struck a security convoy near the northern city of Mosul, killing two soldiers and wounding two others.

Acting UN envoy in Iraq Gyorgy Busztin condemned the bombings, urging the government to boost security measures and Iraqis to refrain from revenge attacks.

"Retaliation can only bring more violence and it is the responsibility of all leaders to take strong action not to let violence escalate further," a statement from Busztin said Sunday.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures for all attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

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