More than 50 killed in Iraq funeral bombing

A tent where mourners were gathered was hit by two explosions, one of them detonated by a suicide car bomber.

A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighters gathered at the scene, according to one report.

Officials reported that women and children were among the dead and more than 120 people had been injured.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which happened early on Saturday evening.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the scale of the casualties.

The bombing followed an attack earlier on Saturday, in which 11 people died during an assault on a police station in Baiji, north of Baghdad.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.
The violence was triggered in April by an army raid on a Sunni Muslim anti-government protest camp near Hawija, also north of Baghdad.

The country has also seen a spill-over of violence from the conflict in Syria, which has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones.

In recent weeks, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign which the Shia-led government is calling "Revenge for the martyrs".

But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.

More than 5,000 people have died so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to the United Nations.

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Atrocities, Conflict, Iraq, Islamism

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, September 21, 2013