String of car bomb attacks kills dozens in Iraq
BAGHDAD – A string of car bomb attacks across Iraq killed at least 37 people Thursday, Iraqi officials said. Three of the attacks targeted Shiite districts in the capital, Baghdad, while the fourth targeted a Kurdish neighborhood in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk.
Police officials said the first attack targeted a line of small restaurants in the Shiite district of Sadr City Thursday night, killing 11 people and wounding 25 others.
Minutes later, a second car bomb blast near an outdoor market in the same district killed seven people and wounded 21 others.
Later, a bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shiite northern neighborhood of Shaab, killing three and wounding 12 others.
In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a car bomb attack near a cafe killed 16 people, said deputy chief of the Kirkuk police, Maj. Gen. Torhan Abdul-Rahman Youssef.
The blast took place in a Kurdish district in the city, 180 miles north of Baghdad.
Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the causalities. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shiite neighborhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni extremist Islamic State group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
Washington has an agreement with Baghdad on privileges and immunities for the growing number of troops based in Iraq who are helping in the fight against the Islamic State group, the new U.S. ambassador said Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Stuart Jones said Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has given assurances that U.S. troops will receive immunity from prosecution. Under Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, that issue was a major sticking point, ultimately leading to the decision to withdraw all remaining U.S. troops in late 2011.
“That was a different situation and those troops would have had a different role,” Jones said.
“We have the assurances that we need from the government of Iraq on privileges and immunities,” he said. “It’s in the basis of our formal written communications between our governments and also based on the strategic framework agreement that is the legal basis of our partnership.”