Series of blasts exposes Iraq's vulnerability

Dubai: A series of coordinated attacks by suicide bombers and other attackers killed at least 62 people Wednesday, less than a week before US troops formally end combat operations. The deadly attacks targeted police stations and government buildings in Baghdad, Kut, Basra and Karbala.

The bombings also wounded more than 250 people, underscoring the fragility of Iraq's security and the uncertainty of its political situation more than five months after an election that produced no outright winner and as yet no new government.

The onslaught was launched a day after the US military in Iraq cut its strength to under 50,000. Its spokesman, Major General Stephen Lanza, called the attacks "desperate attempts" to undermine faith in the Iraqi security forces.

In Baghdad's north-eastern neighbourhood of Al Qahira, a suicide bomber detonated explosives in his vehicle, killing 15 people — including two women, two children and two policemen — and wounding dozens, Brigadier Abbas Mushtaq from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior told Gulf News.

A separate car bomb in central Baghdad killed two policemen and wounded seven civilians, while two other policemen were shot dead in the Hai Al Amel district to the south of the capital.

In Kut, another car bomb resulted in multiple deaths and injuries.

Dr Nasser Ameer, Director of the Kut General Hospital, told Gulf News that around 87 people were seriously wounded. The head of the police department, meanwhile, said that at least 25 people had died in the attack.

In Kirkuk, a car bomb killed one person and wounded 11 others, according to Colonel Adel Zain Al Abideen, the city's acting chief of police.

In Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, three people were killed and 16 wounded in two car bomb attacks, one at a police checkpoint, according to a security official.

Another car bomb in Muqdadiyah, killed three people and wounded 18, many of them police, said a security official in Baquba.

In Basra, 12 people — including four policemen — were injured by a car bomb near a police station.

In Karbala, at least 29 people were wounded when a car bomb went off near a police station, a health department source said.

— With inputs from agencies