Aftermath of coordinated bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, November 3, 2010. The attacks killed over 100 people and came a day after the U.S. midterm elections where significant gains were made by the right-wing of the ruling class.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
From Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN
November 3, 2010 -- Updated 1737 GMT (0137 HKT)
Iraqis inspect damage at a market on November 3, 2010, one day after a blast in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Pentagon says Iraq security still "good" despite bombings
Death toll climbs from Baghdad bombings
Shiite neighborhoods are hit in a wave of explosions
The explosions struck areas across the city
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The toll from a series of explosions across Baghdad climbed to at least 64 dead and 360 wounded Wednesday, Iraq's health minister Saleh Mahdi told state television al-Iraqiya.
The blasts across the capital Tuesday included 14 car bombs, two roadside bombs and mortar attacks in at least 17 neighborhoods, most of them in Shiite areas, police said.
In an earlier report, police said there had been three roadside bombs and a sticky bomb: a device typically placed on a vehicle.
Explosions struck the Shiite neighborhoods of Kadhimiya in the northwest; Amil, Bayaa and Shulaa in the southwest; Ur and Zuhour in the northeast; Sadr City, Kamaliya and Amin in the east; and Abu Dhsir in the southern part of the city.
Other blasts struck mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods, including Waziriya, Yarmouk, Jihad and Eghraiat.
U.S. military advisers went to some of the explosion sites with Iraqi security forces, the military said in a statement.
A U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, said the strikes are typical of al Qaeda in Iraq attacks.
During the height of the Iraq war, sectarian violence tore through Baghdad on a daily basis in Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods.
Despite a series of recent bombings, "overall security is good" and "attack levels [in Iraq] remain at historically low levels," Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists protested Iraq's move -- carried out Monday -- to close Al-Baghdadiya TV's offices in Baghdad and Basra.
The decision came after the Cairo, Egypt-based satellite channel broadcast demands of gunmen who attacked a church in Baghdad on Sunday. The hours-long standoff ended after Iraqi security forces stormed the Sayidat al-Nejat church.
In all, 58 people died, and 75 others were wounded; most of the casualties were women and children, the officials added.
The Al-Baghdadiya bureau chief in Cairo, Abdelhamid al-Saih, told the journalists group that the shutdown was illegal since there was no judicial order and that he believed authorities were using the broadcast as a pretext to close the offices because the channel had previously given Iraqis the opportunity to criticize the government.
"We are concerned by the closure of Al-Baghdadiya TV and demand that [the government's Communications and Media Commission] explain under what authority it has stormed the station's offices and censored it," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We call on the authorities to allow the station to resume its operations immediately."
According to the committee, the government commission said in a statement that the attackers had "contacted the station and selected it to be the exclusive platform for their inhumane practices with the purpose of disrupting Iraq's national unity and to inflame religious discord."
It said, "the station's broadcast of demands 'amounts to incitement to violence' and that Al-Baghdadia's coverage was not objective, creating a threat to the military operation by providing attackers with information about ongoing operations to rescue the hostages."
CNN's Arwa Damon and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Scores killed in Baghdad blasts
At least 63 people killed and hundreds more wounded as multiple bombs hit mostly Shia neighbourhoods in Iraqi capital
Last Modified: 03 Nov 2010 09:50 GMT
A series of car bomb blasts hit Shia-majority neighbourhoods in Baghdad
A series of explosions across Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, has killed at least 63 people and wounded 285 others, hospital and police officials say.
The bombings began at about 6:15pm local time on Tuesday and took place in at least 10 neighbourhoods, involving booby-trapped cars, roadside bombs and mortar strikes.
"Ten cars exploded with bombs inside them. There were also four roadside bombs and two sticky bombs," said Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a Baghdad security spokesman.
The attacks appeared directed mostly at the city's majority Shia population, though some blasts occurred in Sunni neighbourhoods.
Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Baghdad, said most of the blasts happened near markets and banks and areas that are usually crowded at that time in the evening.
'Violent days'
"There have been a series of attacks of a highly sectarian nature recently. The city is witnessing some very violent days," Rageh said.
"It's all being blamed on the failure of Iraqi politicians to agree on the formation of a government.
"It's been eight months since the inconclusive March 7 elections failed to produce an outright winner.
"The people, observers and even some politicians believe the political impasse is giving an opportunity to those intent on destabilising the country to sow chaos."
The combination of car bombs and roadside bombs came just two days after gunmen in Baghdad held a Christian congregation hostage, in a siege that ended with 58 people dead.
The assailants took more than 100 people hostage in a standoff that ended after police stormed the church two hours later.
At least 25 of those killed were hostages.
Iraq officials launched an investigation into the church raid on Tuesday, saying they are trying to find out how the gunmen managed to storm the building despite checkpoints, an official said.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
2 November 2010
Last updated at 21:24 ET
Iraq attacks: Dozens die in series of Baghdad blasts
The BBC's Jim Muir says the explosions were mainly from car bombs
A series of apparently co-ordinated blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 63 people, officials say.
More than 280 people were wounded in the 10 attacks, which appeared to target Shia areas, officials say.
The US has condemned the attacks as "vicious violence".
It comes after at least 52 people were killed in Baghdad on Sunday as police stormed a church where hostages were being held.
The incident is the first concerted show of force by insurgents for months.
"The United States strongly condemns the vicious violence witnessed today," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said in a statement late on Tuesday.
He added: "We have confidence that the people of Iraq will remain steadfast in their rejection of efforts by extremists to spark sectarian tension."
Multiple neighbourhoods targeted
At least seven neighbourhoods were targeted by Tuesday night's explosions, some of which detonated near cafes or restaurants.
Most of the explosions were car bombs but there was also at least one roadside bomb. A salvo of mortars was fired in one area in the south-west of the city.
Officials said the blasts were all in busy, predominantly Shia areas, although Sunni and mixed areas were also hit.
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Deadly attacks since US pull-out
31 Oct: 52 people die as security forces storm Catholic church in Baghdad to free hostages
29 Oct: Suicide bomber kills 25 in cafe in Balad Ruz, north of Baghdad
19 Sep: Twin car bombs in Baghdad kill at least 23
25 Aug: At least 50 killed in series of co-ordinated bomb attacks across Iraq
* Last US combat troops left Iraq on 19 August
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"We were just standing on the street when we heard a loud noise and then saw smoke and pieces of cars falling from the sky," said Hussein al-Saiedi, a resident of the Sadr City area of Baghdad, where a parked car exploded near a market.
"People were fleeing the site in panic, frantically calling the names of their relatives and friends," Mr Saiedi told the Associated Press.
Health Minister Saleh Mehdi al-Hasnawiaid told state media "80% of the wounded were treated and have left hospital".
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad said the funerals for the victims of Sunday's attack had only just been carried out as the explosions went off.
He adds that that incident had already led people to query how stable the security situation in the city was, and the latest attack will raise further questions.
Large-scale attacks have become much less frequent than they were a few years ago, as insurgents find it harder to get hold of materials needed for explosive devices.
Official figures show October had the lowest level of violence in a year, but people are still dying violently somewhere in Iraq every day.
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