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Iraqis inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in the Ameen neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, Iraq Khalid Mohammed/AP/Press Association Images

Blasts targeting mainly Shiite areas kill 21 in Baghdad

Three car bombs struck the Sadr City slum, while others exploded in Ameen, Al-Husseiniya, Kamaliyah and Karrada.

A SERIES OF bombings mainly targeting Shiite areas of Baghdad killed at least 21 people today, officials said, in the latest violence to hit Iraq as it struggles with protests and a political crisis.

Three car bombs struck the sprawling Sadr City slum in the north of the city, car bombs exploded in Ameen, Al-Husseiniyah and Kamaliyah in the east, and a roadside bomb blew up in Karrada in central Baghdad, security and medics said.

Another roadside device went off in Saidiyah in the capital’s south. At least 21 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in the attacks, the officials said.

Enraged

Residents of Sadr City were enraged by the bombings, and hospitals in the area were quickly crowded with people searching for relatives, an AFP journalist reported.

The carnage could have been even worse – the AFP journalist saw soldiers apparently working to defuse another car bomb in the area.

The Baghdad Operations Command, which is responsible for security in the capital, said in a statement that security forces defused a total of six car bombs, including three in Sadr City.

Heavy security measures were put in place after the Sadr City attacks, with some areas closed off. Security forces also searched cars at the main entrance to Sadr City and helicopters overflew the area, another AFP journalist said.

Also today, gunmen killed a police captain in front of his home in Mosul in north Iraq, security and medical officials said.

The attacks bring the number of people killed in violence this month to at least 157, according to an AFP tally based on reports from security and medical officials nationwide.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest wave of attacks. But Sunni militants linked to the Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq often target the Shiite majority in a bid to erode confidence in the central government and push the country back towards the bloody sectarian conflict of 2006-2007.

The latest violence comes as after nearly two months of anti-government protests centred on Sunni-majority areas in north and west Iraq, calling for the ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and amid a festering political crisis.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: Attack on north Iraq police HQ kills 30>

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    Mute vic
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    Feb 17th 2013, 6:36 PM

    Those areas are shiite alright.

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    Mute Jack Daniels
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    Feb 17th 2013, 8:51 PM

    I feel sorry for a the Iraqi people .

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    Mute Patrick Lyons
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    Feb 17th 2013, 6:43 PM

    I’m sure many an IRA person harks back to the good old days when they sat down to their dinners after a hard day’s blowing people up.

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Feb 17th 2013, 6:48 PM

    Not sure what the IRA have to with this story?

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    Mute Francie mc nally
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    Feb 18th 2013, 1:28 AM

    Go away and make me a cup of tea paddy

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    Mute chris topher
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    Feb 18th 2013, 10:45 PM

    Patrick Lyons you are an idiot. How can you justify making a statement like that . There were plenty of innocent people including children lost their lives during the troubles and I’m sure not even big tough men in the IRA and other organisations celebrated that. You need to grow up.

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    Mute Joe Sixtwo
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    Feb 17th 2013, 8:12 PM

    The religion of pieces.

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    Mute Tsar N Khan
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    Feb 18th 2013, 3:04 AM

    Thank you George Bush & Tony Blair & CO for this. (From orphans & widows of iraq) be witness lord.

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    Mute George Kafantaris
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    Feb 18th 2013, 4:15 AM

    The one that has the most power to stop the cycle of revenge is the one who has been wronged last and whose turn it is to act. He could use his turn and continue the cycle or he can forego it — both now and the next time until it stops. Such is the wisdom and utility of turning the other cheek that nobody thought of before Christ.
    It is wrong for Muslims to kill Muslims. They should figure out a way to stop these sectarian killings — even if it means resorting to the ideas of Christ to do so.

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    Mute Si Regano
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    Feb 18th 2013, 5:51 PM

    Another country that USA and GB entered in and now complete turmoil, The sad fact about it is when Saddam Hussein was in power the country was better off, This is a daily occurence now, I really feel sorry for the Iraqi People, Iraq should be one of the richest countries in the world instead its plundered and now they in complete mess

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