BAGHDAD: Two car bombs blew up in a Baghdad suburb, the deadlier of two attacks yesterday that left at least 10 dead in the Iraqi capital.
The two parked cars exploded simultaneously in a street in Husseinya, killing five civilians and as well as a policeman at a nearby checkpoint, two police officers said. It was not clear what they were targeting. Twenty-one other people including 17 civilians were wounded, they added. Hussainya is located some 25 km outside central Baghdad.
Inside Baghdad, a bomb went off outside a restaurant at lunchtime in the southern Dora neighborhood, two other police officers said. Four customers at the restaurant were killed and 11 people wounded, they added.
Two doctors in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to release information.
The attacks came a day after nine people were killed in series of explosions in and around Baghdad, one targeting an Internet cafe. Businesses and public spaces are favorite targets for militants seeking large numbers of civilian casualties. Violence has spiked in Iraq following a deadly security crackdown on a camp in northern Iraq run by Sunnis, protesting what they consider to be their second-class treatment by the Shiite-led government. Government investigators say the April 23 incident left 40 people dead, while a spate of follow-up attacks and battles has killed well over 200 more.
Also Monday, Iraqi Shiites held a funeral for a member of a militant group whom they said was killed in Syria while defending a revered Shiite shrine. Some Iraqi Shiite parties have been sending fighters to Syria, where a Sunni-dominated rebel movement is fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, a member of a Shiite offshoot sect.
