Dozens killed in attacks across Iraq

Dozens killed in attacks across Iraq
By Ernesto Londoño
Copyright by The Washington Post
Monday, May 10, 2010; 9:23 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/10/AR2010051000194.html?hpid=topnews


BAGHDAD -- A suicide bombing at a textile factory in southern Iraq and a rash of attacks targeting security forces killed at least 65 people Monday, Iraqi officials said.

Wire services put the toll at 75 and said it was the bloodiest day in Iraq this year.

Two car bombs were detonated outside the factory in Hilla, south of Baghdad. As rescuers came to the aid of the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated explosives. In total, the blasts killed 36 people and wounded nearly 140, Iraqi police officials said.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Kut province, also in the heavily Shiite south, a bomb detonated outside a restaurant killed at least nine people and wounded 12.

The attacks were a reminder that, though weakened, the Sunni insurgency remains capable of carrying out coordinated attacks, despite the recent slayings and arrests of scores of suspected leaders. They also suggest that insurgents are once more targeting civilians in Shiite areas in an effort to rekindle sectarian tension.

In addition to the assaults targeting civilians, there were a series of coordinated attacks early Monday targeting security forces in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on at least seven checkpoints and detonated explosives at three other secured sites, killing at least 10 soldiers and police officers, Iraqi authorities said.

In Fallujah, a Sunni city west of the capital, at least five people were killed and 14 were wounded in bombings targeting the homes of police officials and leaders of U.S.-backed paramilitary groups, Iraqi officials said.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber driving a vehicle killed two Kurdish soldiers at a checkpoint outside the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said.

Violence has dropped markedly across Iraq in recent months, largely as a result of crippling blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq. The Sunni insurgent group has sought to discredit the Shiite-led Iraqi government with massive bombs and targeted assassinations of government officials and security personnel.

Iraqi and U.S. officials say insurgents probably will seek to sow chaos during a period of political transition. Results of the March 7 parliamentary election have not yet been certified because Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki succeeded in ordering a manual recount of nearly 4.5 million ballots cast in Baghdad.