40 killed in Iraqbombings
BAGHDAD -- Bombs pounded six Iraqi cities and towns Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and raising suspicion that security forces might be assisting terrorists in launching attacks on Shia Muslims.
The onslaught came just ahead of a religious pilgrimage that could attract even more violence.
A senior Iraqi intelligence official said checkpoint guards may have been bribed to help al-Qaida-linked Sunni insurgents plant bombs at Shia marketplaces. The attacks injected new fear into Iraqis, resigned to worsening violence six months after the last American troops left the country.
"We want to live a normal life, but with the current spike in violence and victims, I am personally thinking of moving," said Hassan al-Saadi, 40, a Shia sports equipment store owner in Baghdad who is considering pulling his four children from school for their safety.
"I see the future as worse," al-Saadi said.
A spike in violence over the past month is blamed partially on Iraq's paralyzing political crisis, which pits Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shia-led government against rival Shia politicians, Sunni Muslims and ethic Kurds who complain they've been sidelined.
Also, the crisis in neighboring Syria may have allowed weapons intended for the opposition to President Bashar Assad to be siphoned off to Iraqi insurgents.
Tuesday's deadliest attacks hit the southern Shia cities of Karbala and Diwaniyah. Despite the risk, hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims are expected to gather Friday in Karbala for an annual religious observance.
-- AP
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
'We have to do better' Newsday high school sports editor Gregg Sarra talks about a bench-clearing, parent-involved incident at a Half Hollow Hills West basketball game.
