At least 12 people have been killed in a series of bombings across Iraq, police and medics say, on the eve of the Islamic month of Muharram.
The AFP news agency cited officials as saying six car bombs and roadside bombs had exploded in the capital, Baghdad, and four other cities.
In the deadliest attack, at least three bombs went off simultaneously in Kirkuk, killing at least five people.
Muharram is an important month of the Shia Muslim religious calendar.
During its first 10 days, millions will commemorate the martyrdom in 680 of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala. The mourning culminates in the festival of Ashura.
Shia religious events have in the past frequently been targeted by extremist Sunni Islamist militant groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq.
‘No security’
No group has said it was behind Wednesday’s bombings, most of which occurred in the ethnically-mixed, oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk.
At least two car bombs and roadside bomb exploded in the city of Kirkuk, leaving at least five people dead and 34 wounded.
One of the car bombs was detonated near the offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which is led by the president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani.
“My child was killed! His friends were killed!” Shukriyah Rauf screamed after the blast, according to AFP. “There is no security here, our homes were destroyed!”
The other attack wounded seven street cleaners.
“The car bomb targeted our friends – they are not police, soldiers or politicians,” said Jassim al-Obeidi. “They just wanted to make a little money.”
Another car bomb targeted an army patrol in the nearby town of Hawija, killing four people and wounding another five, officials told AFP.
Blasts were also reported in the city of Hilla, Baghdad’s Firdous Square and in the town of Balad Ruz, in the province of Diyala.
BBC
