A series of attacks ravage Iraq just days before the election
Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Just a few days before the election, Iraq is once again being ravaged by suicide attacks and explosions. This morning a series of bombings hit north of the capital, causing 19 deaths and more than 300 injured. In the city of Touz Khourmatou, about 175 km north of Baghdad, three car bombs exploded, two blasts took place instead in Nasiriyah, wounding 14 people.
Yesterday another series of attacks hit the north of the country, killing more than 10 people: among the victims was a candidate in the elections next April 20. In Mosul (400 km north-west of Baghdad), a car bomb killed five police officers while they were inspecting the body of a man abandoned on the road. Attacks against security officers have also affected the western city of Fallujah. In recent days in Baquba (60 km north of the capital), a bomb exploded in front of the Sunni mosque killing 12 people.
The long trail of blood of these weeks comes a few days after the tenth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of the country and is the latest in an endless series of violence that marks a nation divided between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, and where Christians are often victims of vendettas and power plays. Between 2003 to December 2011, the date of the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops, 4,550 U.S. soldiers died and 300 allies. However, the real carnage regards the Iraqi civilian population, which has estimated nearly 200 thousand casualties since the start of the war.
The violence has intensified in view of the elections scheduled for April 20, involving 12 of the 18 provinces of the country. The election campaign was characterized by killings and clashes between Sunnis and Shiites with 13 candidates dying in targeted attacks.
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