Region | Iraq
Bombs kill 21 in Iraq as violence intensifies
Bombings killed at least 21 people in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Monday, including high school students on their way to final exams.
- Agencies
- Published: 16:03 June 22, 2009
Baghdad: Bombings killed at least 21 people in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Monday, including high school students on their way to final exams.
The bombings, nearly all in Shiite areas of the capital, came just two days after a truck bombing that killed at least 75 people in northern Iraq.
The reclusive Shiite cleric Muqtada Al Sadr called on the Shiite-led government to take whatever steps necessary to protect Iraqis from attacks.
But in a statement, the anti-American cleric blamed the violence on the continued presence of US troops in the country and demanded a faster withdrawal.
"The Iraqi people are heading toward a new phase that might lift them out from their suffering," the cleric said in a statement.
In northern Iraq, rescue crews were searching for at least 12 people still missing in a massive explosion Saturday near Kirkuk that flattened a Shiite mosque and dozens of mud-brick houses around it.
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