A wave of car bombs struck mainly in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad yesterday morning, killing at least 51 people and wounding dozens, officials said, the latest in the relentless violence roiling Iraq in recent months.
The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior blamed al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, saying they are exploiting the political infighting and security shortcomings to stage attacks.
The deadliest of the day’s bombings was in the eastern Sadr City District, where a parked car bomb tore through a small vegetable market and its parking lot, killing seven people and wounding 16, a police officer said.
Photo: Reuters
That was followed by a total of 10 parked car bombs, which went off in quick sequence in the Shiite neighborhoods of New Baghdad, Habibiya, Sabaa al-Bour, Kazimiyah, Shaab, Ur and Shula, as well as the Sunni neighborhoods of Jamiaa and Ghazaliyah.
The 10 other explosions also struck outdoor markets or parking lots, killing 44 people and wounding 139, other police officers said. Medical officials confirmed the causality figures in yesterday’s attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly wave, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda’s local branch in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Iraqi security forces sealed off the sites of the attacks as fire fighters struggled to extinguish fires that broke out. Twisted wreckage of cars and remnants of the car bombs littered the pavement.
“Our war with terrorism goes on,” interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said. “Part of the problem is the political infighting and regional conflicts... There are shortcomings and we need to develop our capabilities mainly in the intelligence-gathering efforts.”
Iraqi militants often target crowded places such as markets, cafes and mosques, seeking to inflict huge numbers of casualties. Yesterday’s attacks were the biggest since the Sept. 21 suicide bombings that struck a cluster of funeral tents packed with mourning families in Sadr City, killing at least 104 people.
On Sunday, a series of bombings in different parts of Iraq — including two suicide bombings in the country’s relatively peaceful northern Kurdish region — killed 46.
Violence in Iraq surged after government troops moved against a protest camp of Sunni demonstrators in April, triggering deadly clashes nationwide.
Although overall death tolls are still lower than at the height of the conflict, the cycle of violence is reminiscent of the one that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. More than 4,500 people have been killed since April.
Al-Qaeda is believed to be trying to build on the Sunni minority’s discontent toward what they consider to be second-class treatment by Iraq’s Shiite-led government and on the infighting between political groups to ignite sectarian warfare.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)