At least 12 killed, 29 wounded, in Iraq bomb blasts on Thursday

A series of bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 12 people and wounded 29 others, police and medical sources said.

from BBC and guardian (video)

The biggest blast, a car bomb, left at least eight dead near a busy restaurant in the Shia district of Shula in the north of the city.

At least four other bombings were reported in other areas of Baghdad.

Violence in Iraq has declined in recent years, but bomb attacks are still a regular occurrence.



In western Baghdad, a passer-by was killed when a car bomb blew up near the home of an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the Yarmuk area of the city; two people died in attacks on the homes of two policemen in the Amiriya district. One of the policemen was killed and the other wounded, AP news agency reported.

Attacks were also reported in Ghazaliya in the west of the city and Dora and Saidiya in the south.

Baghdad is currently hosting a major auction inviting international firms to explore oil and gas across Iraq.

Thursday's attacks follow two bombings targeting security forces in the city on 13 May in which killed six people died.

In April, a series of blasts struck a number of Iraqi cities, killing at least 35 people and injuring 100 more.

Shootings and bombings killed 45 people in the run-up to an Arab League summit on 20 March.

US forces withdrew from Iraq in December last year, nine years after invading the country to topple Saddam Hussein.

Posted in: Baghdad, Car bomb, Ghazaliya, Iraq