Iraq violence kills 14 as al-Qaeda claims Baghdad attacks

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a lethal wave of co-ordinated bombings in the Baghdad area earlier this week as a fresh wave of attacks killed another 14 in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the country.

Yesterday’s deadliest attack struck after nightfall in a Kurdish neighbourhood in the ethnically mixed town of Tuz Khormato. Insurgents set off a non-lethal stun bomb apparently designed to attract a crowd before detonating a bomb that killed 12 and wounded 10, said the town’s police chief, Colonel Hussein Ali Rasheed.

Tuz Khormato, a frequent flashpoint for violence, is in territory contested by Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen about 130 miles north of Baghdad.

Iraq’s escalation in violence is stoking fears the country is returning towards the brink of civil war, fuelled by sectarian and ethnic divisions.

Hours earlier, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, posted a message online taking responsibility for the deadly attacks that rocked the Baghdad area on Wednesday. Car bombings and other violence that day killed at least 82, mostly in Shia areas of the capital.

The group claimed the attacks were a response to the August 19th execution of 17 Sunni prisoners, all but one of them convicted on terrorism-related charges. It vowed to carry out further attacks against government targets. – (PA)