Series of attacks kill 51 people across Iraq

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press | June 16, 2013 | Updated: June 16, 2013 3:35pm









Photo By Karim Kadim
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Iraqi Shop owners inspect their damaged shop after a car bomb attack outside Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Jun 16, 2013. Most of the car bombs hit Shiite-majority areas and were the cause of most of the casualties, killing tens. The blasts hit half a dozen cities and towns in the south and center of the country. Photo: Karim Kadim

BAGHDAD (AP) — A blistering string of apparently coordinated bombings and a shooting across Iraq killed at least 51 and wounded dozens Sunday, spreading fear throughout the country in a wave of violence that is raising the prospect of a return to widespread sectarian killing a decade after a U.S.-led invasion.
Violence has spiked sharply in Iraq in recent months, with the death toll rising to levels not seen since 2008. Nearly 2,000 have been killed since the start of April, including more than 180 this month.
The surge in bloodshed accompanies rising sectarian tensions within Iraq and growing concerns that its unrest is being fanned by the Syrian civil war raging next door.
One of the deadliest attacks came in the evening when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a cafe packed with young people in the largely Shiite neighborhood of al-Ameen in southeastern Baghdad. The attack killed 11 and wounded 25, according to police.
Clothes shop owner Saif Hameed, 24, was watching TV at home when he heard the blast nearby. He saw several of the wounded being loaded into ambulances.
"It seems the terrorists are targeting any place they can, no matter what it is," he said. "The main things for them are to kill as many Iraqis as they can and keep the people living in fear."

http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Series-of-attacks-kill-51-people-across-Iraq-4603356.php