By Jaime Ortega.
A series of blasts have rocked the Iraqi capital and its neighborhood killing many people and wounding dozens – the deadliest wave of violence in eight months.
The news comes after eleven people were killed in series of bomb attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk – Iraq’s two major cities – on Thursday, as five people were killed after a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at the entrance to a Shiite mosque.
One of the witnesses of the Friday bomb was a local unidentified policemen.
“I saw a bright flash followed by a strong explosion that shook the building. Glass was shattered everywhere, people immediately ran to the scene and started evacuating the wounded and the dead,” the local policeman said.
Hashim Munjiz a college student walking through the area also witness the explosion.
“I was about 30 meters from the first explosion. When the first exploded,” Munjiz said. “I ran to help them, and the second one went off. I saw bodies flying and I had shrapnel in my neck.”
The second bombing, at a funeral south of the capital, killed eight and wounded 11, according to medical sources.
A third attack consisting of two bombs exploded in a commercial area in a mainly Sunni neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing at least 21 people and wounding 32.
Grocery store owner Hassan Alwan was among the worshippers who attended the Friday prayer in the al-Sariya mosque.
He said he was getting ready to leave after Friday prayers when he heard the explosion, followed a few minutes later by another.
“We rushed into the street and saw people who were killed and wounded, and other worshippers asking for help,” he said. “I do not where the country is headed amid these attacks against both Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq.”
Another explosion struck a cafe in Fallujah, which killed two people and wounded nine.
Tensions have been intensifying since Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government, including random detentions and neglect.
The protests, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in the country’s north on April 23.
Thus far, no group claimed responsibility for the bombings.
the three-day Iraqi death toll to 130, including Shiites at bus stops and outdoor markets in scenes reminiscent of the retaliatory attacks between the Islamic sects that pushed the country to the brink of civil war in 2006-2007.
After the collapse of Saddam Hussein dictatorship, an ethnic dilemma has caused Sunnies, Shiats and kurds to battleground territories causing civil strife.
In 2006, Shiats won the elections, causing hostility between Sunnie Muslims, preventing any outside influences of Iran in Iraq.
