Series of bomb blasts kills up to 16 in Iraq

A series of car bombs in and around the Iraqi capital killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens of others on Tuesday, security and medical officials said.
The blasts struck an Iraqi army checkpoint south of Baghdad, a military base north of the capital, and a mostly Shiite neighbourhood also in the north, officials said.

In the deadliest attack, six people were killed when a car bomb was detonated near an army camp in the town of Taji, 25 kilometres north of the Iraqi capital, an army officer and a medical official said.

At least 20 other people were wounded.

South of the capital in the town of Mahmudiyah, at least five people were killed and 14 others wounded by a suicide car bomb, officials said.

And a car bomb near a market in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala killed five and wounded 12.

No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often launch attacks in a bid to destabilize the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008.

Tuesday's violence came after four days of relative calm in Iraq following a spate of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda's front group that left at least 88 people dead on January 15-17, according to an AFP tally.

By Al Arabiya with Agencies
Last Updated: Tue Jan 22, 2013 14:00 pm (KSA) 11:00 am (GMT)

Posted in: Al-Qaeda, Baghdad, Car bomb, Iraq, Iraqi Army, Shia Islam, Taji Iraq