Toll from Baghdad area attacks reaches 30: officials

BAGHDAD: A series of attacks in the Baghdad area, including four car bombs targeting civilians, have killed at least 30 people, security and medical officials said Tuesday.

The violence Monday evening was the latest in a months-long surge in bloodshed that, coupled with a deadly weeks-long standoff in Anbar province, has sparked fears Iraq is slipping back into the brutal sectarian war that killed tens of thousands in 2006 and 2007.

Car bombs went off in populated civilian areas across the capital, including the district of Adhamiyah and Shaab and Shuala, from about 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) onwards, the officials said.

The blasts, which struck a market killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens more, according to security and medical officials.

A gun attack on a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Madain, just south of the capital, left three policemen dead and six wounded.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. (AFP)