Dozens of attacks across Iraq, including a brazen car bombing on the way to Baghdad airport, killed 50 people on Monday, just days before the country's first elections since US troops withdrew. The violence, which mostly struck during morning rush hour amid tightened security ahead of the polls, also wounded nearly 300 people and raises further questions about the credibility of the April 20 vote, seen as a key test of Iraq's stability and its security forces' capabilities.
A total of 14 election hopefuls have already been murdered and just 12 of the country's 18 provinces will be taking part in the vote. Officials said more than 30 bombings and a shooting hit 12 different areas of Iraq, leaving 50 people dead and making Monday the country's deadliest day since March 19.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. The deadliest attacks were in Baghdad, where eight bombings struck in seven neighbourhoods across the capital despite tougher checkpoint searches and heightened security. Among them was a car bomb in a parking area used by vehicles making their way to Baghdad's heavily-guarded airport, a rare bombing on the road famously known as "Route Irish".
The airport road was once referred to by American forces as "RPG alley" for the high numbers of attacks there, but it has since become far more secure. AFP journalists in Baghdad reported that sites of attacks were cordoned off by security forces who barred journalists from filming or taking photos of the aftermath of the bombings. In Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, six people were killed and 67 wounded by three near-simultaneous car bombs, and in Kirkuk, five people were killed and 44 wounded by six more car bombs. Attacks elsewhere killed nine people and wounded 92 others.