Bombs kill 13 in Iraq, wound more than 50

Three bombings in and around Baghdad killed 13 people and wounded more than 50 on Thursday, hospital sources and police said, the latest in a wave of attacks to raise fears of a return to widespread sectarian violence in Iraq.   

In the deadliest of Thursday's attacks, at least eight people were killed and 30 wounded when a bomb in a parked car exploded at the entrance of a Baghdad market in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim district of Washash, hospital sources and police  said.   

A separate car bomb attack in Taji, a town 20 km (12 miles) north of the capital, killed four and wounded 20 in the early hours of the morning, police said. The bomb in the mainly Sunni town was targeting a government building, which was severely damaged.   

A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one and wounded five in Abu Dsheer, a Shi'ite area in southern Baghdad, police said.   

Violence in Iraq has fallen since a peak in 2006-07, but insurgents remain capable of lethal attacks.   

More than 150 people have been killed in June across the country in a spike in attacks targeting mainly Shi'ite pilgrims and shrines.   

Iraq's Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions have been locked in political disputes since the last U.S. troops withdrew in December, aggravating existing tensions.

REUTERS