BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials on Tuesday said at least eight people were killed and 50 others wounded in a series of blasts in central Iraq as insurgents seek to undermine the Shiite-led government.
The first attack came in the Shiite holy city of Karbala when two car bombs exploded in a vegetable market, killing five people, local lawmaker Mohammed al-Moussawi said. Thirty other people were wounded in the explosion at around 6:30 a.m., he added.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to travel this weekend to Karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, for the festival of Shabaniyah that marks the anniversary of the birth of the ninth-century Shiite leader known as the Hidden Imam. The pilgrimage is expected to peak on Friday.
Moussawi, who heads the Karbala provincial council's security committee, blamed the attacks on Sunni insurgents affiliated to al-Qaida in Iraq, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Authorities have banned vehicles from entering the city of Karbala staring today to protect the pilgrims.
"Al-Qaida groups are trying to stop Shiite people from practicing their rituals of the pilgrimage," said Karbala Gov. Amal-Din al-Hir. "But we are confident that the Shiite pilgrims will be undaunted by these explosions."
Hours later, two bombs exploded in the Sunni city of Taji, killing three people and wounding 15. A policeman was among the dead, said security and health officials who confirmed the casualties but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release the information. Taji is home to a military base and is 20 kilometers north of Baghdad.
In Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol in the Sunni-dominated Ghazaliya neighborhood, injuring three policemen and two civilians, a police officer and a health official said. The attack occurred around 10:00 a.m., they said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.
Violence has been steady across Iraq so far this year, but the levels of attacks in June soared beyond the occasional, if spectacular, wave of bombings that is al-Qaida's usual pattern. Victims mostly have been Shiite pilgrims, government officials and security forces — three of al-Qaida's favorite targets.
Iraqi officials and much of the population blames the recent surge of violence on Sunni insurgents seeking to exploit tensions between the country's ethnic and sectarian factions. The conflict has all but paralyzed the government since U.S. troops left last December after nearly nine years of war.
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Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
