Zeenews Bureau
Baghdad: A pair of car bombs tore through two different neighbourhoods in Baghdad on Sunday morning, killing 31 people and wounding dozens of others, Iraqi officials said.
The nearly simultaneous blasts broke what has been a period of relative calm since the end of the holy month of Ramadan nearly two weeks ago and underlined the challenges in protecting Iraq's capital.
Ten people were killed when a car bomb exploded in western Baghdad's affluent Mansour neighbourhood, Army Brig Gen Ali Fathal who is responsible for the western half of the city, said.
He said another 10 were wounded in the attack, and security officials are investigating whether it was the work of a suicide car bomb targeting a crowded commercial area near an AsiaCell store, one of Iraq's biggest mobile phone providers.
Minutes later another car bomb exploded in Kazimiyah neighbourhood’s Adan square in the northern sector of the city, killing at least 13 and wounding more than 70 others, police and hospital sources said.
Two policemen were killed in the blast.
Police said the Kazimiyah blast was the work of a suicide car bomber targeting a checkpoint in a residential area leading to a branch office of the Ministry of National Security.
Also on Sunday, a father and son were killed when a magnetic bomb was attached to their car in Ghazaliyah, west Baghdad, the Interior Ministry official said.
Government figures suggest violence has risen in recent months as the US military has withdrawn thousands of its soldiers and declared an official end to combat operations, and politicians have failed to reach agreement on a new government six months after an inconclusive general election.
July and August recorded two of the highest death tolls since 2008, according to figures released by Iraqi officials.
(With Agencies’ inputs)
First Published: Sunday, September 19, 2010, 18:08