Baghdad hit by deadly bomb blasts

Zabaniyah · Jan 5, 2012

At least 24 people have died after explosions in Shia areas of Baghdad, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The ministry told the BBC that at least 66 people were wounded in the blasts, which occurred in the capital's Sadr City and Kadhimiya neighbourhoods.

AFP news agency said one bomb was planted on a motorcycle and that there were at least three roadside devices.

The attacks come amid a rise in sectarian tensions after the last US combat troops withdrew in December.

BBC correspondent Rafid Jabboori says Iraq is going through a severe political crisis and the situation in the country is tense.

He says the attacks occurred during Baghdad's rush hour and the Interior Ministry says they were targeted at civilian gatherings.

Unnamed officials told the AFP news agency that between 12 and 15 people had been killed when two car bombs exploded simultaneously in Kadhimiya at around 09:00 (06:00 GMT). The Associated Press (AP) said 15 people died in the blasts.

Twelve people had earlier been killed when two bombs were detonated in Sadr City, AP reported officials as saying. It said the first was a motorbike bomb, which exploded near where labourers were gathering to look for work.

It quoted anonymous hospital officials as saying that 30 minutes later a roadside bomb exploded near a tea shop, killing one. AFP quoted security officials as saying nine people were killed and 35 wounded in the Sadr City attacks. Reuters put the toll at 10.

"There was a group of day labourers gathered, waiting to be hired for work. Someone brought his small motorcycle and parked it nearby. A few minutes later it blew up, killed some people, wounded others and burned some cars," a police officer told Reuters at the scene of the first attack.

Iraq's power-sharing government has been in crisis since an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges two weeks ago. He has denied the accusations against him.

The al-Iraqiyya group, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, is boycotting the assembly in protest. It accuses Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, of monopolising power.

Mr Hashemi is currently in Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government, but Mr Maliki has demanded that they give him up.

"Political leaders fight each other for power, and we pay the price," Labourer Ahmed Khalaf told AFP at the site of one of the Sadr City explosions. "How is it our fault if al-Hashemi is wanted, or someone else is wanted?" he asked. "Why should we pay instead of them?"