Iraq attacks kill 20, wounds dozens

A series of attacks in Iraq killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 on Thursday, security and medical officials said, the latest in a wave of deadly attacks this month. In the worst incident, a car bombing in a popular market in the capital killed eight people and wounded 30, a police colonel and a medical official said. Another car bomb exploded near a Shiite place of worship in Baquba north of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 51, said police and Dr Ahmed Ibrahim of Baquba General Hospital. That attack came after a bombing in the city killed two people and wounded four, a police lieutenant said, while a police major said three people were wounded in an attack near the city. Ibrahim said the hospital had also received two bodies and seven people wounded in the earlier attacks. Another car bomb killed two people and wounded 15 in Taji, also north of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. In Samarra, farther north, gunmen killed two Sahwa anti-Al-Qaeda militiamen and wounded two more at a roadblock, according to a Sahwa leader and a medical source. And five people were wounded in the former insurgent town of Ramadi west of Baghdad when a car bomb exploded in a parking area belonging to a state-run immigration office, police and a medical source said.  Thursday's deaths brought to more than 200 the number of people killed since June 13 -- a far higher toll than the 132 killed in the entire month of May. Attacks on June 13, which killed 72 people across the country, were later claimed by Al-Qaeda's front group, the Islamic State of Iraq. Two car bombs targeting Shiites killed 32 people in the capital on June 16, while two days later, a suicide bomber killed 22 people in an attack on Shiite mourners in Baquba, north of Baghdad. At least 12 people were killed by roadside bombs, a suicide car bomb and a shooting on June 22, while 12 more killed in two bombings on June 25. And on Wednesday, three bombings killed 11 people, security and medical officials said. Violence has declined significantly since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks still remain common.