A wave of attacks has killed up to 80 people in Shia and Sunni areas of Iraq extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.
The bloodshed is still far shy of the pace, scale and brutality of the dark days of 2006-2007, when Sunni and Shia militias carried out retaliatory attacks against each other in a cycle of violence that left the country awash in blood. However the latest attacks, some of which hit markets and crowded bus stops during the morning rush hour, have heightened fears that the country could be turning back down the path toward civil war. Sectarian tensions have been worsening since
Iraq’s minority Sunnis began protesting at what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shia-led government. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23rd.
Iraq’s Shia majority, which was oppressed under Saddam Hussein, now holds power in the country. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al Qaeda have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.
But the renewed violence in both Shia and Sunni areas since late last month has fuelled concerns of a return to sectarian warfare.
The predominantly Shia city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit with two car bombs. In Balad, about 80km miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing six. There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the fact that they all occurred in Shia areas raised the suspicion that Sunni militants were involved. The violence also struck Sunni areas, hitting the city of Samarra north of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold and the birthplace of the protest movement.
AP