Deadly bombings strike Baghdad

A wave of blasts hit areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 47 and wounding 90 more. The bombs detonated near markets and in heavily populated shopping streets around the capital.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry, which has referred to the rising sectarian violence as an "open war," increased security by closing roads and deploying police and helicopters in the capital.

Coordinated attack

Militants used six car bombs in the northern, eastern and southern districts of the capital in quick succession early Tuesday evening, around 5.30 pm local time, with one hitting a city center square. A parked car bomb near the square killed five and wounded 18.

Just south of Baghdad, in Nahrawan, the assailants targeted a popular shopping street with a car bomb, and another blast occurred in the northern outskirts of the city.

At a checkpoint in al-Muqdadiyah, to the north of Baghdad, security personnel shot a suspected suicide bomber. The bomber had been driving a lorry laden with 27 containers of explosives, which have now been defused.

Coordinated waves of attacks such as this have been becoming more commonplace in Iraq in recent months.

Violence in recent weeks has proven the most deadly since 2008, with more than 1,000 people being killed in July alone, according to the United Nations. Increased violence often occurs during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

tm/slk (Reuters, dpa, AFP)