16 killed in series of attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD: At least 16 people were killed in a series of bombings and attacks, mainly in Shiite-dominated areas, in central and southern Iraq on Sunday, police officials said. The largest attack was in Basra city, some 550 km south of Baghdad, when twin bombs exploded killing 10 people and wounding 15. In the southern city of Karbala, a car bomb went off in an industrial neighbourhood killing two people; while in the city of Hilla one person was killed and 17 wounded in two car bomb blasts inside a parking lot. Three people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a car near the Sunni-dominated city of Tikrit, 170 km north of Baghdad. There has been a sharp rise in sectarian violence in Iraq in recent months. The United Nations said that 1,057 people were killed in July, the deadliest month in more than five years, while at least 916 civilians were killed in August.