BAGHDAD — Back-to-back bomb blasts ripped through one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam on Sunday, killing at least 10 people in a community still reeling from a deadly bus hijacking this month that left Iraq’s Shiites again feeling hunted.
Four explosions struck the city of Karbala over a five- minute period, government officials said. Two of the bombs targeted an Interior Ministry office that issues ID cards. Another struck near a house, shredding its walls and ceiling. And one of the explosions went off a half-mile from an important gold-domed shrine.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, called the bombings a “heinous crime” and promised that those behind them and the earlier attack on the bus would be punished. He also warned people not to be drawn back into sectarian revenge killings.
“We should stay united and cease statements or acts that would help the criminals in their efforts to ignite sedition,” al-Maliki said.
