Baghdad Rocked By Bombs – Over 60 Dead

It was a horrific scene as a grisly wave of bombs swept through Baghdad on Thursday. This comes just days after the last U.S. soldiers left the country. BBC reported:

At least 68 people were killed and nearly 200 injured as car and roadside bombs went off in 16 separate locations, mostly Shia areas of the city.

The first 13 bombs hit as people were going to work in the morning – they were followed by other blasts throughout the day.

Officials said schools and kindergartens had been among the targets.

Associated Press reports:

The deadliest attack was in the Karrada neighborhood, where a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle blew himself up outside a government office. Two police officers at the scene said the bomber was driving an ambulance and told guards that he needed to get to a nearby hospital. After the guards let him through, he drove to the building and blew himself up, the officers said.

“I was sleeping in my bed when the explosion happened,” said 12-year-old Hussain Abbas, standing in his pajamas. “I jumped from my bed and rushed to my mom’s lap. I told her I did not want to go to school today. I’m terrified.”

Although not confirmed, analyst believe the attacks where carried out by the mainly Sunni Al-Qaeda in Iraq, because of the level of co-ordination and planning behind the attacks.

Ramzy Mardini from the Institute for the Study of War in Washington said “The conditions that perpetuate civil wars are making a hasty comeback”.

The attacks have thrown Iraq’s political community into a crisis. Sunnis are now suspicious that al-Maliki, in the wake of the American military leaving,  is attempting to make a power grab.

Washington condemned the attacks, with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying any attempts to derail progress in Iraq will fail, and that other than hatred and murder,  the attacks serve no purpose.