At least 65 people were killed in a triple bombing that targeted a tent filled with mourners in Baghdad's Shi'ite Muslim stronghold of Sadr City on Saturday, police and medical sources said.
A car bomb went off near the tent where a funeral was being held, a suicide bomber driving a car then blew himself up, and a third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighter were gathering at the scene, police said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, in which at least 120 others were wounded, medics said.
The attack followed a suicide assault on a police headquarters and other
insurgent attacks in northern Iraq that killed 11 members of the security forces.
The incidents are the latest in a months-long
surge of violence that has raised fears that the country is slipping back
toward the widespread sectarian killings of 2004-2008.
Police officials said the deadliest of
Saturday's incidents came when four suicide bombers stormed a headquarters for
police commandos in the city of Beiji, killing seven policemen and wounding 21
others.
Guards killed one suicide bomber while the
three other bombers were able to set off their explosive belts inside the
compound, said the police. Beiji, a center for oil refining, is 250 kilometers
(115 miles) north of Baghdad.
The police said that most of the members of the
commando unit were not in the compound at the time of the attack as they were
carrying out a security operation outside the city, otherwise the casualty
figures would have been higher.
In other violence, gunmen shot and killed two
prison guards after storming their houses in a village near the city of Mosul
early Saturday.
Also in Mosul, two soldiers were killed and
four others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their
convoy.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the
casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to speak to media.
Insurgents frequently target security forces in
an attempt to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-led government in
Baghdad.
More than 4,000 people have been killed between
April and August, U.N. figures show. Another 396 have been killed so far in
September, according to an Associated Press tally.
AP/REUTERS