Wed Jan 15, 2014 13:48:00
Bomb attacks have hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad and a village near the northern town of Baquba, killing at least 52 people, Iraqi sources say.
Half a dozen car bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing 34 people and wounding 71, police and medics said.
The violence occurred amid a continuing standoff between the Iraqi army and al-Qaeda militants who overran the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad more than two weeks ago in a challenge to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.
On Wednesday, a bomb blew up in a funeral tent where mourners were marking the death two days ago of a pro-government militiaman, police said. It killed 18 people and wounded 16 in Shatub, a village south of Baquba.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants are pursuing a campaign of attacks, mostly directed at state targets, civilians seen as loyal to the government.
A study released recently by academics based in the United States, Canada and Iraq said nearly half a million people have died from war-related causes in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003.
NTJ/BA
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