BAGHDAD: Militants killed 10 people in an assault on a Baghdad court involving suicide bombers and shot dead five army officers in attacks yesterday amid a surge of post-election violence.
The attacks were the worst in unrest that left 25 people dead nationwide, part of a protracted spike in bloodshed as officials tally votes from Iraq’s April 30 parliamentary election.
In Thursday’s deadliest attack, militants assaulted a court in central Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding dozens.
Twin suicide bombings, one of which involved an attacker setting off a car bomb, came minutes apart during morning rush hour in the commercial district of Karrada, near a crossroads that is the site of a hospital, a police headquarters and the court complex.
“What happened near the Karrada court was an attempt by terrorists to break into the court,” said Baghdad security spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan. Maan added that “we lost some security forces” in the first blast.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, a car bomb near a row of shops in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood killed at least four people, while violence outside the capital left 11 dead.
In Salaheddin province, militants seized a vehicle transporting five off-duty army officers in civilian clothes and killed them, officials said.
AFP
