Suicide Bomb Kills At Least 20 in Baghdad
At least 20 people were killed and more than 40 were injured in a suicide car bomb at a police checkpoint in Baghdad. The attack occurred in Kadhimiyah, a primarily Shiite neighborhood, as sectarian violence in the country continues.
CNN is reporting that there were multiple bombings in Kadhimiyah, Tuesday:
There were also at least 45 people wounded by the twin bombings in the al-Kadumiya area. The explosions occurred as people were trying to drive into the city before a midnight curfew.
Police said the first bombing was a suicide car bombing. The second bomber went into the crowd of rescuers, who were trying to save victims, most of them civilians.
Agence France-Presse also reports that there was another suicide car bomb in Nahrawan, just south of Baghdad, where three were killed and at least eight injured.
And according to the BBC, at least 14 people were killed in Iraqi air strikes near Fallujah. Among the killed in the air strikes, Al Jazeera reports, were several women and children.
ISIS has apparently claimed responsibility for the car bombings; the New York Times has characterized recent attacks from both sides in the ongoing conflict "their brutal worst:"
As such episodes increase, it becomes ever harder for the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government to make peace with Sunnis and Kurds, in order to make common cause against the insurgents. ISIS, for its part, has made no secret of its intention to provoke a sectarian war, hoping that government killings of Sunnis will drive more Sunnis to its side.
Tuesday's attacks follow a series of bombings in the city over the weekend, when at least 27 people were killed.
[Image from Saturday's bombings via AP]