Car bomb kills 12 and wounds 20 in Iraq

A car bomb killed 12 people and wounded at least 20 other in the Iraqi city of Ramadi today.

The attack took place near a checkpoint on a busy street in the centre of Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad. Police officers were among those who died.

“The explosion was so huge. I saw pieces of cars and bodies,” witness Qasim Mohammed said. He said been working in his photography shop when the attack took place. “A tyre hit my shop. Some women were among those killed.”

Another bomb in Maeden, southeast of Baghdad, killed one person and wounded seven, police and medics said.

Since the start of 2013 the intensity of attacks on civilians has dramatically increased in Iraq. More than 1,000 people were killed in attacks in July, the worst monthly toll since 2008.

Tensions between Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni factions in the power-sharing government have escalated, and the renewed violence has sparked fears of a return to the sectarian bloodshed of 2006-2007.

Reuters