Violence kills 21 in Iraq

BAGHDAD: Shootings and bombings in Iraq killed at least 21 people Thursday, officials said, as the country struggles with rampant violence ahead of parliamentary elections at the end of the month.

The country is suffering from a protracted surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,500 people this year and sparked fears Iraq is slipping back into the all-out sectarian fighting of 2006-2007.

The unrest has been driven principally by complaints among the Sunni Arab minority of mistreatment by the government and security forces, and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

In Thursday´s deadliest single incident, a car bomb exploded near a petrol station in the Ameen area of east Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 35, officials said.

Another car bomb exploded in an area of shops in the capital´s northern Sadr City district, killing at least six people and wounding 18.

The attacks came after eight car bombs hit the capital the day before. In a bid to cause maximum casualties, militants frequently target areas where crowds gather, such as shops, markets, mosques and cafes.

North of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a group of young men in Khales, north of Baghdad, and killed five of them, a police colonel and a doctor said.