Wave of bombings kills 30 in fresh Iraq attacks

A series of bombs in Iraq, including one targeting a provincial governor, kills at least 30 people and wounds dozens.

Residents gather at the site of a car bomb attack in the Karrada district of Baghdad.
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BAGHDAD // A series of bombs in Iraq, including one targeting a provincial governor, killed at least 30 people yesterday and wounded dozens as a wave of violence further rattled the country.

Iraq is experiencing its most relentless round of bloodshed since the 2011 US military withdrawal, deepening fears that the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian fighting that pushed it to the brink of civil war in the years after the invasion.

Most of the blasts went off in Baghdad. Car bombs killed four in the northeastern Shiite neighbourhood of Binouq, and three died in a bombing at a market selling spare car parts in central Baghdad, according to police.

In Baghdad's eastern Shiite Ur neighbourhood, a parked car bomb went off next to an army patrol, killing four and wounding 17, police said.

Police officials also said that a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the largely Shiite central commercial district of Karradah, killing three people there.

The Karradah blast shattered glass and twisted metal signs on several storefronts, and left the stricken police unit's modified Ford pickup truck charred and mangled.

"What have these innocent people done to deserve this?" asked witness Sinan Ali. "So many people were hurt. Who is responsible?"

In Baghdad's northern Shiite neighbourhood of Shaab, a car bomb exploded in a commercial area, killing six civilians and wounding 17 others.

In the largely Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiyah in the capital's north, a car bomb struck near a military convoy, killing three people, including two soldiers, according to police. Another 14 people were wounded in that attack.

Another police patrol was struck in the southern neighbourhood of Saydiyah, injuring six.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualties.

In Anbar province, the provincial governor escaped an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into his convoy, his deputy Dhari Akan said. The governor escaped unharmed, but four of his guards were wounded, Arkan said.