At least 60 killed, 191 wounded in violence across Iraq

Baghdad, June 10 – At least 60 people were killed and 191 others wounded in various violent attacks across Iraq on Monday, police sources said.

Five car bombs exploded Monday evening in Mosul, some 400 km northwest of the capital Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and injuring more than 80 others, a local police source told Xinhua.

Following the bombings, clashes between security forces and militants took place in Mosul, and the authorities then imposed a curfew in the city, the source said.

Also on Monday, four civilians were killed and 26 others wounded in a car bomb in Tuz Khurmatu, some 200 km north of Baghdad, while another car bomb targeting an Iraqi army convoy near Kirkuk, some 250 km north of the capital, killed three soldiers and wounded 12 others, he added.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen diving two cars attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint with automatic weapons in the Alillai area southwest of Tikrit, 170 km north of Baghdad, killing four soldiers, another local police source said.

A bombing attack at a police checkpoint in Madian, 30 km south of Baghdad, killed three people and injured 10 others, while two back-to-back bombings near some popular cafes in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad killed one civilian and wounded eight others, police said.

Around midday Monday, at least seven people were killed and 16 others wounded in a car bomb explosion at a fish wholesale market in Taji area, some 20 km north of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, three car bombs exploded at a vegetable market in the town of Jedidat al-Shutt near Diyala's provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding 39 others.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks, but the al-Qaida militants in Iraq, in most cases, were allegedly responsible for such massive attacks in the country, raising fears that the terrorist organization and other militia groups could return to widespread violence.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks are still common in Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.

(Xinhua)