Police: At least 30 killed as violence rocks Iraq
27.07.2013 03:23
At least 30 people were killed in
attacks across Iraq on Thursday, police
officials said.
In the Nawafl district of central Muqdadiya, a
car bomb exploded at a busy outdoor market,
killing 14 people and injuring eight.
Muqdadiya is located in Diyala province,
northeast of Baghdad. Nawafl is a small
Sunni district in Muqdadiya, which is a largely
Shiite town.
Another car bomb exploded in al-Maddan,
southeast of Baghdad, at a popular coffee
shop, killing eight people and injuring 18, the
officials said.
Near Mosul, the northern metropolis, an Iraqi
military helicopter struck gunmen in two
vehicles, killing seven people.
While gunmen shot dead an employee
working for the ministry of electricity in the
al-Wahda neighborhood of eastern Mosul, the
officials said.
The deadly fighting is the latest in a string
of violence in recent months, much of it
stemming from discord between Sunnis and
Shiites.
Sunnis have long felt politically marginalized
under a Shiite-led government in the post-
Saddam Hussein era. They enjoyed more
political clout during Hussein's rule before
his ouster after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.
According to a CNN tally, close to 450 people
have been killed in Iraq this month.