BAGHDAD, Sept 16 (AFP): At least 15 people were killed in bombings and gunbattles in Iraq on Sunday as the death toll rose to 44 in violence since the start of Ramadan, which Al-Qaeda warned would be bloody.
In the capital Baghdad, the relative calm which had prevailed since the Muslim holy month began on Thursday was shattered when a car bomb ripped through crowds outside an electrical goods shopping mall, killing two people and wounding seven, security and medical officials said.
Insurgents then opened fire on security forces as they rushed to the scene in the mainly Sunni area of Mansour, the officials said. Seven civilians were killed and 12 wounded in the firefights.
In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber triggered his explosive vest in a crowded cafe in the town of Tuz, about 70 kilometres (35 miles) south of the oil city of Kirkuk, leaving bodies buried beneath rubble and causing pandemonium.
"Six people were killed and 22 were wounded," said a doctor at the local hospital. "They were all men."
Said Mohammed, the mayor of Tuz, a mainly Turkoman-Shiite town, confirmed the mid-morning attack. "The toll could rise because we are still sifting through the rubble," he said.
The Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, has vowed a new offensive during Ramadan.
It also warned it would target Sunni leaders who support US troops in Iraq, and claimed the assassination on Friday of Sunni sheikh Sattar Abu Reesha who had led the fight against Al-Qaeda alongside US forces in Anbar province.
A suicide bomb attack in a cafe in Tuz last July killed 28 people.
15 killed in Iraq violence
FE Team | Published: September 17, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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