Kirkuk, Iraq: Bombings targeting protesters and visitors outside of Baghdad killed 14 people on Tuesday, the latest in a surge of violence that has sparked fears of a revival of all-out sectarian conflict in Iraq.
The latest attacks come a day after 35 people were killed nationwide, most of them in a series of car bombs across Baghdad, as the country grapples with a prolonged political deadlock and months of protests from its Sunni Arab minority.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants linked to Al Qaida frequently target Shiites - both the protesters and the visitors were from Iraq’s Shiite majority.
Tuesday’s deadliest attack struck the ethnically-mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu, which lies in a tract of territory in north Iraq that Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its three-province autonomous region over Baghdad’s objections.
Among the dead were a former deputy provincial governor and his two sons, as well as a former provincial councillor.
