DHAKA: A co-ordinated wave of bombings has torn through Shia Muslim areas in and around the Iraqi capital, killing at least 86 people and wounded 263, police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq for at least five years.
The blasts, which came in quick succession, targeted residents out shopping and on their way to work early on Wednesday.
The attacks are the latest in a wave of killings in Iraq that has left thousands dead since April, marking the country`s worst spate of bloodshed since 2008. They raise fears that Iraq is hurtling back towards a civil war fuelled by ethnic and sectarian differences.
Insurgents deployed explosives-laden cars, bombs and suicide bombers targeting parking lots, outdoor markets and restaurants in predominantly Shia neighbourhoods of Baghdad, according to officials.
At least 10 separate bombings are believed to have taken place on Wednesday. More than 200 people were injured.
The interior ministry, which described the attacks as "terrorist explosions", put the casualty figure considerably lower, at 20 dead.
Growing intensity
No group has admitted carrying out the bombings, but correspondents say they appear to have been the work of Sunni militants.
Sunnis say they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki`s Shia-led government.
Correspondents say deep-rooted sectarian tensions have also been aggravated by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.
More than 4,000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 more have been wounded so far this year, with Baghdad province worst hit.
Casualty figures released by the United Nations showed 1,057 Iraqis - most of them civilians - were killed in July, making it the deadliest month in the country for years.
Barely a day goes by in Iraq now without similar bloodshed, our correspondent adds.
The scale of bloodshed peaked in Iraq at the height of the insurgency in 2006-7.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attacks bore the hallmarks of the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida. The Sunni militant group frequently targets Shia Muslims, which it considers heretics, and employs co-ordinated bombings in an attempt to incite sectarian strife.
BDST: 1110 HRS, AUG 29, 2013
RS/BSK
