Blasts Target Shiite Areas of Baghdad

37 Dead, 100 wounded in dramatic escalation of violence

An Iraqi police officer walks by a wrecked car where a bomb struck in Baghdad on Monday, April 6, 2009. (Photo credit: Ali al-Saadi / AFP — Getty Images)

April 6, 2009

BAGHDAD — Seven bombs rocked Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad on Monday, killing 37 people and wounding more than 100 in a dramatic escalation of violence as the U.S. military is thinning out its presence before a June 30 deadline to pull combat troops out of the cities.

Angry survivors hurled stones at Iraqi soldiers at the site of one of the blasts in Sadr City after troops fired shots in the air to disperse crowds of people trying to care for the injured, witnesses said. …

The deadliest blast occurred in a market in western Baghdad where two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously, killing 12 people and wounding 29 others, an Iraqi police official said.

Burned hulks of cars and twisted metal were scattered across the marketplace, as Iraqi soldiers and police officers surrounded the bombing site, driving off onlookers and journalists.

Uptick in violence raises concern extremists are regrouping

The day’s violence started with a car bomb at 7:30 a.m. in the center of the capital that killed at least six people and wounded 16, said a police official, who said most of the victims were day laborers seeking work.

Later, a bomb in a parked car exploded at a market in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, killing 10 people, including three women and four children, and wounding at least 28 others, said Iraqi police and medical officials. Within minutes, another bomb went off at another eastern Baghdad market, killing three more people and wounding 15, said a security official.

A roadside bomb targeting a three-vehicle police convoy carrying an Interior Ministry official in eastern Baghdad killed three people, including two of the official’s guards, and wounded eight others, said another police official. …

U.S. officials insist that violence has fallen by 90 percent since the high point in 2007, but a recent uptick in attacks has raised concern that extremists may be regrouping. …

Tension has been increasing in Baghdad in recent weeks between the Shiite-led government and mostly Sunni paramilitary groups that the United States organized to provide security in their neighborhoods.

Last month, Iraqi troops put down an uprising by a paramilitary group in central Baghdad that began after their leader was arrested. The paramilitaries, known as Awakening Councils or Sons of Iraq, also complain that a number of their members have been arrested in what they fear is an attempt to marginalize them.

U.S. soldier killed amid troop drawdown

Also Monday, the U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier was killed in action the day before in Diyala province, where insurgents remain active. It was the first combat death suffered by U.S. forces in Iraq since March 16, when a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.

Also in Diyala province, unidentified gunmen killed two Kurds Sunday night in a drive-by shooting in Jalula, 80 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi army Capt. Sarjo Ahmed said Monday.

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Monday, April 6, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A bomb attack in the north Baghdad district of Adhamiya wounded up to four civilians.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen and two civilians, police said.

BAGHDAD – A car bomb killed 12 people and wounded 65 near a popular market in northeastern Baghdad’s Sadr City, police said.

BAGHDAD – A car bomb exploded near a line of laborers, killing six people and wounding 17 in central Baghdad’s Alawi district, police said.

BAGHDAD – Four people were killed and 20 wounded by a bomb in a parked car near a market in the Husseiniya district, northern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Three people were killed and 12 wounded when a car bomb targeting an Interior Ministry official convoy exploded in eastern Baghdad, police said. Two of the dead were guards in the convoy.

BAGHDAD – Two car bombs in the same market area killed 12 people and wounded 32 in southern Baghdad’s Um al-Maalif neighborhood, police said.

DHULUIYA – A suicide bomber wounded seven Iraqi soldiers when they entered a suspect’s house to implement an arrest warrant in Dhuluiya, 45 miles north of Baghdad.

MOSUL – Unknown gunmen killed tribal sheikh Falah al-Farhat in west Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad.

MOSUL – A civilian was killed when armed men and police clashed in west Mosul.

TAZA – Gunmen in a moving car shot and seriously wounded a man in the town of Taza, 130 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

Following are security developments in Iraq on Monday, April 5, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

DIYALA PROVINCE – A U.S. soldier died as a result of a combat operation in Iraq’s volatile northern Diyala province, the U.S. military said in a statement, without elaborating.

ABU GHRAIB – Two houses were blown up in the Abu Ghraib district of west Baghdad, one of which belonged to a leader of the Sunni Arab neighborhood patrolmen who were instrumental in reducing violence after they turned on al Qaeda. A man was killed and two women wounded, municipal officials said. It was not clear if the target was the “Sahwa” leader’s house.

MOSUL – Gunmen wounded two Iraqi soldiers in two separate incidences when they hurled hand grenades at their patrols in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA – Gunmen killed a policeman and wounded another four when they opened fire at a moving police car in central Samarra, 62 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

FALLUJA – Two bombs which exploded in succession killed a police officer and wounded another eight in central Falluja, 32 miles west of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen shot dead a civilian in a bus station in western Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen shot and wounded a civilian in a drive-by shooting in western Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Two mortar rounds wounded a policeman when they landed on a police station, in southeastern Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen wounded two civilians and a policeman when they shot at a police checkpoint in central Mosul, police said.

MOSUL – A roadside bomb killed a child and wounded a civilian when it exploded in western Mosul, police said.

KIRKUK – Gunmen in a moving car shot and wounded a civilian in the south of Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, on Saturday, police said.