MOSUL, Iraq, (Reuters) – Bombs killed 42 people across Iraq yesterday, ripping through mostly Shi’ite areas and raising fears of a resurgence in sectarian violence just as politicians hope to reach out to old foes for January polls.
The blasts are the latest of several major attacks targeting Shi’ites since U.S. troops withdrew from urban centres in June, boosting doubts about whether Iraq’s security forces, rebuilt from scratch after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, can cope alone.
Two truck bombs shattered the dawn calm when they exploded within minutes of each other in the mostly Shi’ite village of al-Khazna, 20 km (12 miles) east of Mosul in Iraq’s north, killing 30 people and wounding 155.
The blasts destroyed some 40 houses in the village, home to the small Shabak community, a sect of Kurdish origin. Distraught people stood around a massive crater left by one of the blasts as firemen picked through the debris searching for bodies.
“What have we done for terrorists to kill innocents in their sleep?” cried Umm Qasim, 35, her face covered in blood. She was sat in a truck and was holding her wounded son. The bodies of four relatives, including her husband and sister, lay nearby.
