65 killed, over 100 hurt in Iraq attacks (Second Lead)

BAGHDAD - At least 65 people were killed and more than 100 injured Monday in a series of bombings and armed attacks in Iraq which the government said was an attempt to destabilise the country.

The police, army, state media and witnesses confirmed the attacks in various parts of the country.

At least 20 people were killed and 70 injured when two car bombs detonated near a textile factory in Hilla city, 100 km south of Baghdad, medics and witnesses said.

Two people were killed and 12 injured when a bomb exploded in a parked car on a commercial street in Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital Baghdad, police said.

Several shops and cars were badly damaged in the blast.

Earlier, eight people were killed and 70 injured when a bomb exploded near a mosque in the city of Waset, around 170 km southeast of Baghdad, state television reported.

The attack was preceded by a bombing in the city’s central market that left at least 13 dead and 70 injured.

“We call upon all the political blocs to work in the best interest of the country, assume full responsibility in this sensitive stage, and speed up the formation of a new government that involves all political parties,” Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.

The Iraqi Islamic Party condemned the attacks, saying they were a “serious indicator of deteriorating security in the country”.

Iraq has seen an increase in daily violent attacks as the political crisis involving the formation of a new government continues.

Three people were also killed and 16 injured in a car bomb attack near the local government headquarters in al-Taremeya, just north of Baghdad, according to reports.

A high-ranking police officer was killed and six policemen were injured in a bomb attack in the city of al-Halla, 100 km south of Baghdad.

A senior official in the al-Khales provincial council, near the northern city of Baquba, was assassinated.

“A group of gunmen with suspected links to Al Qaeda attacked Laith Hassan, head of the provincial council’s committee for Displaced People, in his home, shooting and killing him,” a police source told DPA.

Five members of the Iraqi Army were killed in bomb attacks targeting checkpoints in the regions of al-Ghazaleya, al-Adl and al-Jihad. Six people were injured in the attacks.

Five members of the army were shot and killed by gunmen at a checkpoint in the neighbourhood of New Baghdad in the eastern part of the capital, witnesses said.

Two people were killed and three injured when a bomb exploded in a shop in Alexandria, some 60 km away from Baghdad, police told DPA.

Two members of the Kurdish Peshmerga security forces were killed and several others injured in a suicide bombing in the northern city of Mosul, army sources said.

The bomber detonated his explosives in a car near a checkpoint jointly run by the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga forces.

In the city of Fallujah, some 60 km west of Baghdad, four people were killed and 10 injured in a series of bombings targeting the homes of police officers.

The Iraqi Army arrested seven suspected terrorists in different areas of the city of Baquba, and deactivated five explosive devices, army sources said.