DHAKA: Coordinated bombings ripped through mostly Shia neighbourhoods in the Baghdad area during rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 65 people, the latest in spiralling violence in recent months.

More than a dozen explosions-most of them car bombs, but also at least two suicide attacks-went off in predominantly Shia areas of the Iraqi capital, as well as two confessionally mixed towns just to its south, security and medical officials said.

The attacks also wounded more than 140 people, the officials added, reports gulfnews.com.

In addition to the bombings, the death toll included seven Shia family members killed when gunmen raided their home and shot them as they slept.

They came despite widely publicized security operations targeting militants in the capital and to the north and west, though the government has faced criticism it is not dealing with the root causes of Iraq’s worst violence since 2008.

The rise in unrest since the beginning of the year, with more than 3,700 people killed in 2013, has sparked concerns the country is teetering on the edge of a return to the brutal all-out sectarian war that plagued it in 2006 and 2007.

The deadliest attack on Wednesday struck in the Jisr Al Diyala neighbourhood of southeast Baghdad, with at least seven people killed and 21 others wounded in twin bombings.

Another car bomb in the Baghdad Jadidah area, which left four dead, also badly damaged nearby cars and shopfront.

All that was left of the car bomb was mangled metal, while onlookers railed against the authorities for failing to ensure security.

‘We are poor people, and all of our things have been burned, and our home has fallen to the ground,’ said Marwa, an 18-year-old resident of Shaab, a north Baghdad neighbourhood where four people were killed.

‘The politicians are fighting over positions and not looking after us,’ she continued.

BDST: 1709 HRS, AUG 28, 2013
RoR/RIS