A wave of car bombings and roadside blasts across several cities in Iraq have killed at least 46 people and wounded more than 180 people, police and hospital sources say.
One of the deadliest attacks targeted the city of Karbala, where at least 13 people were killed.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded near a police headquarters, killing 13 and wounding 30.
“We have also received parts of bodies, but we do not know who they belong to,” said Mohammed Abdullah, a doctor at Kirkuk hospital.
While a bomb in a parked car detonated inside the garage of Kirkuk police department, another bomb went off in the same street.
Sources told Al Jazeera there had also been a suicide car bombing in the Allawi district of central Baghdad, killing three people.
Blasts also occurred in Baiji, Samarra, Tuz Khurmato, Daquq and Dhuluiya, all north of Baghdad, and Hilla and Latifiya in the south.
Bombs defused
Police in the northeastern city of Baquba said they had also found and defused eight bombs.
Another car bomb in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province, killed two people and wounded 11, according to local police and medical officials.
A separate gun and bomb attack took place in the Salaheddin province, killing two people.
The attacks came just days before Baghdad hosts an Arab League summit, the first meeting of the 22-nation body to be held in the Iraqi capital since Saddam Hussain’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Security forces in Iraq have been placed on high alert ahead of the summit.
Officials insist Iraq’s forces are capable of maintaining security for the summit, but have admitted they may need to effectively shut down Baghdad to do so.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Comments