Baghdad blasts kill 17

A spate of bombings in Baghdad yesterday killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens more, shattering a relative calm with deadliest violence in the capital in weeks. Roadside bombs and explosives-packed cars detonated across a half-dozen neighbourhoods

in the north, south and west of Baghdad, underlining persistent security concerns even as international energy companies met in the centre of the capital to bid on nationwide oil and gas exploration blocks.

Overall, 17 people were killed and at least 57 wounded in the attacks, an interior ministry official and two medical sources said. Three others died in shootings in northern Iraq.

Thursday’s deadliest attack struck in the north Baghdad neighbourhood of Shuala, where a car bomb killed at least 13 people and wounded 32, medical officials said.

A police first lieutenant in Shuala said the car was driven by a suicide attacker.

AFP