BAGHDAD — Two bombs and a rocket attack struck the Iraqi capital Monday, just weeks before the final pullout of U.S. forces from the country. The explosions brought to 100 the number of people killed in the capital so far in November, up from 62 in October.
The deadliest blast — a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber — killed at least 11 people and wounded 26 others at the entrance to al-Hoot prison in north Baghdad, security officials said.
Hours later, a magnetic bomb attached to a civilian car exploded near the Baghdad International Fair Ground in central Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding four.
A rocket slammed into the fortified Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government’s offices just after 4 p.m. The rocket struck in a parking lot near the city’s convention center, which houses the Iraqi parliament. No casualties were reported.
The attacks fed concerns that violence will rise after U.S. forces leave. The deadline for all American military troops to be out of Iraq is Dec. 31, though it’s believed the American withdrawal will be completed before then. Fewer than 20,000 U.S. forces remain in Iraq.
Ahmed Abbawi, a baker in Baghdad’s Karrada district, blamed former members of Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath Party for the violence and predicted they would try to take control of Iraq after the U.S. withdrawal is complete.
“It is their best chance,” he said. “The government is not really in control. I can’t say for sure that the (security) forces will be able to manage the situation,” which he called “frightening.”
Violence has tapered off since the height of sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, but it is still a near-daily occurrence.
