BAGHDAD, April 24, (AFP) -A wave of attacks across Iraq including five car bombs, three as prayers finished at Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killed 58 people on Friday, just days after the government said Al-Qaeda was on the run.
The violence wounded dozens more and underscored the unrest that continues to plague a nation whose politicians are struggling to form a government almost seven weeks after a general election seen crucial to its long-term stability. A statement from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said the bombs were a direct response from insurgents angered by the purported killing of Al-Qaeda in Iraq's (AQI) top two commanders in a joint Iraqi-US military raid on Sunday.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the political leader of AQI, and Abu Ayub al-Masri, an Egyptian militant and the insurgent group's self-styled “minister of war,”died when their safehouse north of Baghdad was bombed, Maliki and US officials said. |
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