A car burns in flames after a bomb attack in Baghdad on October 7, 2013.<\/p>\n
A series of car bombings and other attacks in Iraq, mostly targeting Shia Muslims, have killed at least 66 people and injured scores more, according to security and hospital sources.\n<\/p>\n
A total of 11 car bombs went off in eight Shia majority-areas in and around Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 44 people and injuring over 120 others.\n<\/p>\n
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police officials say the prime suspects are al-Qaeda-linked militants, who have carried out similar attacks in the past.\n<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, a vehicle full of explosives was detonated by a bomber in a residential area of the eastern village of Muwaffaqiyah, killing 15 people and wounding 50 others.\n<\/p>\n
In other attacks on Thursday in northern Iraq, seven people died and several others were injured.\n<\/p>\n
The incidents are the latest in a string of attacks across Iraq that have left about 6,000 people dead since the beginning of 2013.\n<\/p>\n
According to the United Nations, a total of 1,057 Iraqis, including 928 civilians, were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in terrorist attacks throughout the country in July — the deadliest month since 2008.\n<\/p>\n
And about 800 Iraqis lost their lives in August in the deadly attacks, a third of which took place in Baghdad.\n<\/p>\n
According to an academic study published in the United States on Tuesday, more than 460,000 people in Iraq lost their lives between 2003 and 2011 as a result of the US-led invasion of the country.\n<\/p>\n
The study was conducted at the University of Washington, Johns Hopkins University, Simon Fraser University and Mustansiriya University.\n<\/p>\n
Researchers conducted the survey based on interviews with 2,000 households in 100 geographical clusters across Iraq™s 18 provinces between May 2011 and July 2011.\n<\/p>\n
The study found that more than 60 percent of deaths were directly attributable to violence, with the rest associated with the collapse of infrastructure and other indirect causes.\n<\/p>\n
œIn a war situation, people can™t leave their homes to get medical care. When they do leave their homes to get medical care, they arrive at institutions overwhelmed with violent injuries,” said Amy Hagopian, the associate professor of Global Health at the University of Washington and lead author of the study.\n<\/p>\n
œThe water is compromised. Stress is elevated. The power is out. The distribution networks for medical supplies are compromised,” Hagopian added.\n<\/p>\n
Iraq™s Interior Ministry has said that militants have launched an open war in Iraq and they want to push the Middle Eastern country into chaos.\n<\/p>\n
œThe country is currently facing an open war from bloodthirsty sectarian forces that aim to plunge the country into chaos,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on July 30.\n<\/p>\n
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