Iraqi police say a series of rush-hour bombings across Baghdad hit commuters on their way to work, killing four and injuring at least 16.
Yesterday’s deadliest strike came when a roadside bomb exploded at 7:15am next to a minibus heading from the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City into downtown.
Police said three people were killed, including a police officer, and nine were wounded.
A hospital worker confirmed the casualties.
Earlier, three bombs planted a few meters away from each other in a downtown business district blew up simultaneously. Police and hospital officials said a bystander was killed and seven injured.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, gunmen killed six Iraqi security personnel in a series of attacks, including a pair of sleeping policemen who were shot and set on fire, amid persistent debate over whether Iraqi forces can protect the country as US troops leave.
The early-morning shootings at Baghdad checkpoints demonstrated the insurgents’ aim to weaken confidence in the government and aggravate sectarian tension as all but 50,000 US troops head home by the end this month.
In the first attack, gunmen armed with silenced pistols killed two policemen asleep in their patrol car at a security checkpoint in the Shiite-dominated New Baghdad neighborhood, said an officer with the federal police in Baghdad. The assailants then set the car on fire and fled, he said.
Thirty minutes later, a drive-by shooting at a checkpoint killed two more policemen in the Amil area, another Shiite neighborhood, in southwest Baghdad, two other police officials said. Two passers-by were injured, they said.
Around the same time, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by government-backed Sunni fighters from groups known as Awakening Councils in the mostly Shiite Shaab district in the capital’s northeast. One of the fighters was killed and two were injured, the police officials said.
It was not clear if the shootings were coordinated or carried out by the same attackers. Health workers at the Baghdad city morgue and two hospitals confirmed the casualties.
Hours later, a bomb attached to a policeman’s personal car killed the driver and wounded two passengers, who were also policemen, officials said. The blast occurred outside Tikrit, former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s hometown 130km north of Baghdad.
All authorities spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
As the number of US soldiers dwindles at a rate of about 4,000 each week, insurgents have stepped up attacks on Iraqi security forces, demonstrating remaining vulnerabilities. Checkpoints continue to be an easy target for gunmen, and traffic police — many of whom are unarmed — have also been slain in recent weeks.
Last year, US President Barack Obama ordered all but 50,000 US troops to leave Iraq by Aug. 31 this year as part of his campaign promise to end what he once termed “a dumb war.” Under a security agreement between both nations, all US troops are to be out of Iraq by the end of next year.
However, fears that Iraq’s security forces won’t be able to fend for themselves have been voiced more vocally as the end-of-the-month deadline nears. Last week, General Babaker Shawkat Zebari, who commands Iraq’s military, repeated his warning that his army may not be ready to defend the nation until 2020.
Babaker has said for months that it may be necessary for US forces to remain in Iraq until his soldiers can take full control of security, but the timing of his statement last week was widely seen as a veiled plea for the US military to reconsider its departure.
A government spokesman said on Saturday that Iraqi security forces will be ready to defend the nation by the end of next year.
“Iraq does not need a constant American military presence or bases in Iraq,” spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.
So far, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has stuck by next year’s deadline outlined in the security agreement, but he also is struggling to hold on to his job after coming in second place in March parliamentary elections to a Sunni-backed political coalition.
Iraq’s government largely has been in disarray since, with no end in sight to bickering over who will be the country’s next leader.
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