Baghdad: At least 35 people were killed and 70 others wounded in separate bomb attacks across Iraq Tuesday, police said.
The deadliest attack occurred at noon in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest among a crowd of Shiite worshippers inside Abu al-Timan mosque, leaving 19 people killed and 34 others wounded, Xinhua quoted a police source as saying Tuesday.
Insurgent groups frequently attack Shiite pilgrims who perform communal rituals in the Iraqi cities in attempt to provoke sectarian strife.
In a separate incident, a roadside bomb went off at a popular marketplace at the predominantly Shiite district of Sadr City in the eastern part of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding nine others, along with damaging several nearby shops and stalls.
Also in the capital, two roadside bombs detonated in a quick succession near a police patrol in Baghdad’s southern district of Doura, leaving two policemen and two passers-by wounded.
In Anbar province, 12 people were killed and 20 others wounded by artillery and mortar shelling on several neighbourhoods in the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, a medical source from the city hospital said.
Anbar province has been the scene of fierce clashes that flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti-government protest site outside Ramadi in December last year.
Also, a soldier was killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol on a main road just north of the city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, police said.
Iraq is witnessing some of its worst violence in recent years. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years.