The wreckage of a car used in a bomb attack is seen in a Shia area of Baghdad. (file photo)
At least 46 people have been killed in the latest cycle of violence in Iraq.
Saturday was another day of death and destruction for the beleaguered people of Iraq, with bomb attacks and shootings across the country.
Almost a dozen coordinated car bombings shook busy streets of Baghdad in the evening while many people were out shopping or relaxing in coffee shops after breaking their daily fast for the month of Ramadan.
The deadliest attack occurred in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada, where an explosion on a busy shopping street ripped through shops and food stalls, leaving nine dead and 17 injured.
Eight people were killed and 29 injured in a car bombing in the Tobchi district in northwestern Baghdad, while three were killed and 13 injured in another car bombing in the western neighborhood of Baiyaa.
An explosive-laden car was detonated in Zafaraniyah in southeastern Baghdad, killing six and injuring 15.
Two separate car bombs exploded in the New Baghdad neighborhood in the southeast of the city, killing five people and injuring 17.
Four more people were killed and 12 injured in yet another car bombing, which shook the Shia section of the mixed neighborhood of Shurta in the west of the capital.
Earlier in the day, gunmen in pickup trucks shot and killed Bassem Mahmoud, a leader of the anti-al-Qaeda group Sahwa, and two of his bodyguards near the city of Baqouba, the capital of Diyala province.
Another Sahwa leader and four other people were killed when a bomb was detonated near his house in Madain, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Four people were injured in that attack.
In the northern city of Mosul, a bomber blew himself up near a military post, killing one woman and injuring 25 people, many of them soldiers.
Meanwhile, gunmen kidnapped three off-duty policemen and their driver near Mosul, killing two of the men and seriously injuring the other two.
Iraq has been experiencing a surge in deadly attacks since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan in early July. Iraqi officials say the acts of violence are being committed as part of a foreign-backed plot to foment sectarian strife in the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says militant groups and remnants of the ousted Baathist regime are responsible for the carnage.
MRS/HGL
Republished with permission from: Press TV