Scores killed in Baghdad market blasts

Bombings have been on the rise in Iraq since the beginning of the year

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/185977.html

At least 21 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded when three explosions blew up in a market south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

"Explosives loaded in three shopping carts killed 21 people and wounded 107 at the Shurt al-Raba market," AFP quoted an interior ministry official as saying on Thursday

The official added that the attack happened at 6:45 p.m. (15:45 GMT) when the area was crowded with shoppers.

Also on Thursday, an American contractor with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Iraq was killed and three civilians, including another US citizen, were wounded in a bomb attack in Baghdad.

Reports show that bombings have been on the rise in Iraq since the beginning of 2011 and violent incidents averaged more than 10 a day in May, up from four to five a day in January.

On Tuesday, 25 people were killed and 30 injured when two car bombs exploded outside the residence of a local governor in central Iraq.

At least seven Iraqis were injured in an attack on a French embassy convoy in Baghdad on Monday.

Local security forces and provincial government officials in Iraq have been the target of attacks in recent months as US troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of this year.

Over one million Iraqis have died since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the California-based media research group, Project Censored.