Attacks across Iraq killed 73 people on Saturday, most of whom died during bombings against Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad. Two journalists were gunned down in a separate incident in Mosul, located in the north of the country.
Police officials told AFP that at least 49 people died when a
suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims passing through the
largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah en route to a nearby
Shiite shrine. Seventy-five people were reported wounded in the
blast.
Other attacks across the violence-torn nation claimed 24 lives.
The deaths were confirmed by hospital officials.
Around the same time the blast targeted Shiite pilgrims, a
suicide bomber detonated himself in a café in Balad - a largely
Shiite town surrounded by Sunni communities, located about 80
kilometers north of Baghdad. The attack claimed 13 lives and left
22 wounded.
Three people were also killed and 13 were wounded in the
religiously mixed Baghdad neighborhood of Baiyaa after a hidden
bomb went off inside a café.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but such
bombings are usually carried out by Sunni Islamists allied to
Iraq’s branch of Al-Qaeda.
In recent months, militants have carried out numerous attacks on
cafés and other public places where people congregate, such as
mosques and markets.
In one of the incidents on Saturday, unidentified gunmen shot
dead two Iraqi television journalists as they were filming in the
northern city of Mosul. Their reports on security forces and
officials in Mosul had resulted in death threats from militant
groups opposed to the Iraqi government, a journalist from Al
Sharqiya TV channel told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Iraq was rated the deadliest country for journalists between 2003
and 2008. However, the New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalists has not reported a murder of a journalist in the
country since September 2011.
Nevertheless, members of the media continue to face widespread
intimidation. “Many Iraqi journalists are routinely exposed
to threats, murder attempts, attacks, difficulties obtaining
permission, denial of access, confiscation of equipment and so
on,” Reporters Without Borders said earlier this year.
Iraqi forces have carried out operations against militants in
recent months but have not managed to curb the violence sweeping
the county.
More than 4,800 people have been killed in Iraq this year
according to figures published by AFP, which are based on
security and medical sources.