Many killed in Iraq as Ramadan begins
An Iraqi worker cleans the stone wall of the Ramadan Mosque in Baghdad’s landmark Firdous square on April 9, 2012 as Iraq marks the ninth anniversary of fall of Baghdad in the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Hundreds died in the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, between 2003 and 2010, including more than 300 Americans.
Violence swept Iraq on Wednesday and Thursday as Muslims began fasting for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Iraqi officials told Reuters at least 32 people were killed on Thursday, while scores more were attacked on Wednesday.
The unrest comes amid a major increase in violence there, with more than 2,000 people dead since April, according to the Associated Press.
Iraqi police told Agence-France Press on Thursday that a suicide car bomber killed 10 people and injured nearly two dozen at a Shiite man's funeral in Muqdadiyah outside Baghdad. Reuters said 11 people were killed.
Iraqi authorities told the AP on Thursday that militants attacked security areas in Anbar province late Wednesday, as people were having the iftar sunset meal that ends the daylong Ramadan fast. Sixteen people were reported killed.
"This is a crime carried out by terrorists during iftar on the first day of Ramadan," Barwana Mayor Meyasser Abdul-Mohsin told the AP. "It just proves what a cowardly act it is."
Also in Anbar, Iraqi officials told the Azeri-Press Agency on the condition of anonymity that there three suicide attacks there on Thursday that killed a total of six policemen in Ramadi. The agency also reported unrest in Fallujah that killed at least six officers on Thursday.
The AP said a car bomb attack in the northern city of Tuz Khormato, located in an area disputed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen, injured 30 people on Thursday, while another similar explosion was reported outside the city of Kirkuk, hurting seven people.
Many other attacks were reported throughout the nation on Wednesday.
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