Attacks in Iraq killed 14 people on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of bloodshed mostly targeting Shia Muslims that has left 123 dead in the past three days amid fears the country is slipping back into all-out war. The surge in violence has also wounded more than 320 others, and comes as the country grapples with a protracted political stand-off and months of anti-government protests, with analysts warning the deadlock is unlikely to be resolved at least until general elections due next year.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda often target Shias, whom they regard as apostates. In Wednesday's deadliest violence, a bomb went off in the Nahrawan area of south-east Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding at least 14 others, security and medical sources said. Elsewhere, two car bombs in the main northern city of Mosul killed four people, while other attacks around Iraq left three dead. Three militants were also killed in separate incidents.
The bloodshed came after a wave of bombings and shootings across Iraq on Tuesday that killed 57 people and unrest on Monday in which 49 others died. A member of parliament said the situation is unlikely to get any better as Iraq heads next week into the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramazan, which has seen in past years an increase in attacks. "Nothing will change," Hassan Jihad, a Kurdish MP on parliament's security and defence committee, told AFP.
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