BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Suicide bombers and roadside blasts targeted police across Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens on the second day of serial bombings in the Iraqi capital in less than a week.
The string of apparently coordinated assaults heightened worries about the ability of Iraq’s security forces to contain a stubborn insurgency, despite a drop in violence as the last U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by the end of this year.
One bomber rammed an explosives-filled vehicle into a police station in central Alwiya district, killing 14 including 8 police and wounding 28, and another blew up his car at a police building in northwestern Hurriya, killing 8 people and wounding 27, police and hospitals said.
“A car approached and… the driver smashed through the checkpoint and exploded the car when he hit a concrete barrier,” Police Lt. Nadeer Adel told Reuters. “Smoke was everywhere, we all took cover. Minutes later we found a crater and some of our police were dead.”
The Hurriya blast burned out police vehicles and damaged the station’s blue protective blast walls next to the large crater in the road.
In other districts blasts blew out windows from nearby homes and shops, scattering streets with debris.
A car bomb also targeted a police patrol in southern Ilaam district, killing at least three, while a roadside bomb hit an army patrol in Hurriya, killing one civilian and injuring 12 people, mostly soldiers, police said.
