59 killed, 196 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq

At least 59 people were killed and 196 others wounded on Thursday in separate violent attacks across Iraq, including a wave of car bombings in the capital of Baghdad that left 40 people dead, police said. At least 11 people were killed and 21 others injured when two car bombs exploded near a popular restaurant in the Alwaya area in central Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua. Ten people were killed and 20 others wounded when a car bomb went off in the Husseiniyah area in northeastern Baghdad, while another car bomb attack in the Mamel area in eastern Baghdad killed six people and wounded 15 others, the source said. Four people were killed 16 others wounded when a car bomb went off near a cafe in the New Baghdad area in the southeastern part of the capital, he said, adding that a car bomb struck the Dora district in southern Baghdad, killing four people and injuring 11 others. Two car bomb attacks near a popular restaurant in the Qureat area in northern Baghdad killed three people and wounded 15 others, while one civilian was killed and 11 others were wounded when a car bomb went off in the Shurta district in southwester Baghdad, the source said. Also one civilian was killed and seven others were wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Baya area in southwestern Baghdad, he added. Elsewhere in Tuz Khurmatu, 170 km north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a popular cafe in the city center, killing four people and injuring more than 20 others, a local police source said. Earlier in the day, at least 15 people were killed and 60 others wounded when a suicide attacker detonated a truck bomb in Muwafaqiya, a village of the Shiite Shabak community near Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, was responsible for such massive attacks, raising fears that the country could return to widespread violence at a time when it has to fend off the spillover of the escalating crisis in neighboring Syria. Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, almost 6, 000 Iraqis were killed and over 14,000 others injured from January to September this year.