64 killed, 143 wounded in car bomb attacks in Iraq's capital

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64 killed, 143 wounded in car bomb attacks in Iraq's capital

(Xinhua) 08:42, September 22, 2013

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BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 -- At least 64 people were killed and 143 others wounded in car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Saturday, police said.

Two car bombs exploded near a funeral in the Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, killing 56 people and injuring 128 others, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Eight people were killed and 15 others wounded when a car bomb went off in a popular market in the Ur district in eastern Baghdad, the police source said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were responsible for such suicide bombings in the country.

The blasts came one day after a bombing attack struck a Sunni mosque near the city of Samarra, 120 km north of Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and injuring 21 others.

Earlier on Saturday, four suicide bombers wearing explosive belts blew themselves up at the entrance to the local headquarters of the Iraqi special police forces in Baiji, 200 km north of Baghdad, killing seven policemen, a local police source said.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said earlier this month that almost 5,000 civilians were killed and 12,000 others injured in Iraq from January to August this year.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full-blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

（Editor：YaoChun、Liang Jun）