Baghdad, Iraq – A wave of bombings and shootings swept Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and raising fears that al-Qaeda had launched a promised new offensive.
The U.S. military acknowledged violence was increasing.
Also Wednesday, it was announced that Iraqi and U.S. troops raided the Iraqi military academy the day before and arrested cadets and instructors allegedly linked to the kidnap- slaying of the former superintendent and the abduction of his replacement, who was later freed.
Police reported at least six car bombings around the country Wednesday, an increase over the pattern of attacks in recent weeks, though U.S. officials insisted the violence was still below last year’s levels.
Wednesday’s deadliest attack occurred when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden truck near the home of a Sunni Arab tribal leader near Sinjar, 240 miles northwest of Baghdad. Ten people were killed and nine wounded, including the sheik. The sheik’s son, who worked as a government contractor, also was killed. The U.S. military said the sheik had spoken out against al-Qaeda.
Six civilians were killed and 28 were wounded when two car bombs exploded in an outdoor market in Baghdad’s Baiyaa district, police said. Shiite militias have driven thousands of Sunnis from Baiyaa this year.
In the south, a bomb exploded near the main gate of a Sunni mosque in the town of Abu al-Khaseeb, about 12 miles south of Basra, killing five worshippers and wounding 10 others, police reported.
The blast may have been in retaliation for a suicide bombing the day before against the police headquarters in Basra, an attack that killed three policemen and wounded 20 other people. Nearly all the Basra police are Shiites.
In Baghdad, gunmen ambushed a car carrying two senior police officers in the Qadisiyah district, killing both of them, police said.
A Shiite adviser to the Iraqi parliament, Thamir Abid Ali Hassoun, was gunned down in eastern Baghdad when assailants blocked an alley near his home and sprayed his car with bullets, police said.
The other victims were either found dead in Baghdad and Kut or died in bombings and shootings in Tikrit, Basra and Diyala province, where U.S. troops have been battling al-Qaeda militants.
Also Wednesday, the U.S. command announced that Army Staff Sgt. Zachary Tom czak, 24, of Huron, S.D., was killed the day before by gunfire in Baghdad. And Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Brown, 38, of Harrah, Okla., was killed Tuesday in Muq dadiyah in a roadside blast.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced its troops had prevented a suicide attack Tuesday at a dam on Lake Tharthar. It said the trucks were driven by Afghans.
