WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Twin blasts in Baghdad kill 4, wound 7
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-06 16:19 BAGHDAD -- Twin roadside bombs exploded during the morning rush hour near a check point in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing four people and wounding seven others, police said.
A security official said the twin blasts in the capital's Sunni enclave of Sheik Omar occurred at a checkpoint manned by members of an Awakening Council, the term for mostly Sunni groups that have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq. Two civilian bystanders were among those killed in the blast, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the media. Violence has dropped sharply in Baghdad since the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and the routing of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq last spring. But there has been a marked uptick in violence this week, with a string of daily bombings in the Iraqi capital that have killed more than 30 people and wounded more than 80 others. US officials say attacks in Baghdad are averaging about four a day, down nearly 90 percent from levels in late 2006, when Shiite-Sunni fighting was at its high point and just before the US troop surge that helped bring down violence in the capital. But US commanders warn the security gains are reversible. |
