UN: Sectarian Violence In Iraq Claimed 1,000 Lives In September

Iraq Violence Kills Nearly 900 In September, Gunmen Storm Police Station -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Nearly 900 civilians were killed across Iraq in September as sectarian violence worsened, raising the death toll for 2013 to more than last year's total, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Most of the bloodshed was instigated by Sunni Islamist militants. In addition to 887 civilians, 92 members of the security forces were killed.

September's toll brought the number of people killed so far this year to 5,740, exceeding the toll for all of 2012, when the first yearly increase in civilian deaths was recorded since 2009 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 2011.

Overall, Baghdad was the worst-affected governorate.

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More News On The UN Report That 1,000 Iraqis Were Killed In September

UN: Nearly 1,000 Iraqis killed in September -- AP
UNAMI: 979 people killed in Iraq last month -- UPI
UN: Nearly 1,000 people were killed in Iraq last month -- Global Post
979 people killed in Iraq's violence in Sept.: UN -- Xinhuanet
1,000 killed in Iraq violence in September: UN -- Press TV
Bloody September: Iraq violence reaches level not seen since 2008 -- Middle East Online

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Violent Attacks Continue Throughout Iraq

At Least 33 Killed In Violence Across Iraq -- Reuters

(Reuters) - At least 33 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Wednesday that included a coordinated assault against local government and police buildings in the north of the country, police and medical sources said.

Militant groups including the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda have been regaining momentum in their insurgency against Iraq's Shi'ite-led government this year, reviving the specter of the sectarian carnage of 2006-07.

In the northern town of Hawija, two suicide car bombs were detonated outside a local council building and a police station before militants fired mortar rounds and exchanged fire with the army, killing three soldiers, military sources said.

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More News On The Continuing Bloodshed In Iraq

Militants hit north Iraq town as 33 killed nationwide -- AFP
Bombings and other attacks kill 25 across Iraq -- USA Today/AP
Gunmen attack Sunni town in Iraq -- Boston Herald/AP
Ten city workers killed in sectarian attack in northern Iraq -- UPI
Iraq's Sunni-Shiite Killings: When It’s Based on a Name -- Mushreq Abbas for Al-Monitor
Sliding toward Damascus -- Jane Arraf, Miami Herald/Foreign Policy

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Iraq's Violence Continues To Spiral Out Of Control

UN Warns Against Iraq Revenge Attacks As Blasts Kill 73 -- The Nation

The UN warned on Sunday against revenge attacks in Iraq after two blasts killed 73 people in a Shiite area of Baghdad a day after a Sunni mosque was bombed.

Saturday's bombings struck near funeral tents for a tribal sheikh in the Sadr City district of north Baghdad and also wounded more than 200 people.

It was just the latest in an upsurge of violence that has brought death tolls to their highest level since 2008, when Iraq was emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

"Retaliation can only bring more violence and it is the responsibility of all leaders to take strong action not to let violence escalate further," Gyorgy Busztin, the UN secretary general's deputy special representative for Iraq, said in a statement.

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More News On The Escalating Violence In Iraq

Assault on Iraq funeral, other attacks kill 96 -- Bloomberg Businessweek
96 killed after suicide bombers target mourners at funeral in Iraq -- CTV/AP
Over 90 killed in Iraq suicide bombings targeting Shiites -- RT
U.N. warns against escalation after Iraq blasts kill 73 -- Al Arabiya
More than 60 killed in Iraq funeral bombing -- BBC
At least 65 killed in attack in Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold -- Reuters
Iraq Violence Leaves 60 Dead -- Voice of America
Attacks Kill Scores in Iraq as Violence Surges -- New York Times/AP
Sectarian Violence Reignites in an Iraqi Town -- New York Times
Iraq's Violence Spirals Out of Control -- Voice of America
Insight: Iraqis hesitate on the edge of chaos -- Reuters
Iraq is lost -- Charles Bybelezer, Jerusalem Post

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Fears Of Civil War Returning To Iraq

Exploding Violence Threatens To Renew Civil War In Iraq -- USA Today

Violence has been on the rise since the U.S. pulled out its troops.

KIRKUK, Iraq — With the sun still rising in the Iraqi sky, a man climbs out of bed.

Gathering everything he needs for his two-hour journey to work from the city where he lives, Diwaniyah, to Iraq's capital of Baghdad, he kisses each member of his family and takes a last look at them.

"When I go out in the morning for work, I kiss my family goodbye because I might not come back," said Semad Ali, a technical assistant working for a private environmental group.

Iraq has exploded with violence this year. On Tuesday, a new wave of car bombs rocked commercial streets in the Iraqi capital, part of a series of attacks across the country that left 33 dead.

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More News On The Continuing Violence In Iraq

49 killed, 148 injured in Iraq attacks -- Business Standard
Wave of attacks in Iraq leave at least 35 dead; more than 100 hurt -- CNN
Iraqi Police Report Scores Dead in Nationwide Attacks -- Voice of America
Dozens killed in attacks across Iraq -- Al Jazeera
Wave of car bombs, other attacks kill 31 in Iraq; Sunnis say sect targeted in southern city -- Washington Post/AP
Sunnis say sect targeted in southern Iraqi city of Basra, with 17 killed in 2 weeks -- FOX News/AP
Al Qaeda’s staggered bombings designed for maximum casualties -- France 24

My Comment: I cannot help but feel that Iraq is on the verge of entering a very dark place.

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Car Bomb Attacks Is The New Normal In Iraq

Car Bomb Epidemic Is the New Normal in Iraq -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — This time the targets were an ice cream shop, a bus station and a famous restaurant near the Shiite slum of Sadr City. A string of coordinated car bombs struck around Baghdad at dusk on Tuesday, killing at least 46 people, in the latest burst of violence that appears to be steadily pulling the country back toward the worst days of the last decade.

Earlier in the day, five Iraqis were killed when gunmen stormed a house in a Sunni district and used silenced pistols to kill a family: mother, father and three children. The circumstances and motive of the attack were unclear, but the manner in which it was carried out evoked the cycle of sectarian revenge killings that consumed the country just a few years ago, after the American-led invasion that felled Saddam Hussein led to a civil war.

The bombings in Baghdad, likely carried out by Iraq’s resurgent Al Qaeda affiliate, mostly struck Shiite neighborhoods. The attacks followed a similar round of bombings less than a week ago in the capital that killed at least 65 people.

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My Comment: This is becoming a typical day in Iraq .... Wave of bombings, attacks in Iraq kill at least 67 -- Kansas City/AP

But what is very unnerving is that the Iraqi government is clearly unable (and incapable) to stop the carnage.

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Massacre Being Reported At An Iranian Dissident Camp In Iraq

UN Demands Inquiry After Deaths At Iraq Refugee Camp -- NBC

The United States condemned an attack in which 47 people were reportedly killed at a large refugee camp in eastern Iraq on Sunday, and the United Nations demanded an investigation into the incident.

"The United Nations deplores the tragic events at Camp Ashraf today. A number of residents have been reportedly killed and injured," a statement from the international organization read.

The UN urged the Iraqi government to "immediately investigate the facts and disclose their findings."

Camp Ashraf is home to some 3,400 refugees, primarily members, relatives and sympathizers of Iran's main opposition group, the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, also known as MEK.

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More News On The Massacre At The Refugee Camp Ashraf In Iraq

UN team visits investigate deadly bloodshed at Iranian dissident camp in Iraq -- Washington Post/AP
U.N. team visits Iranian dissident camp in Iraq after killings -- Reuters
UN, US Urge Iraq To Probe Deadly Attack On Iranian Exile Camp In Baghdad -- RTT
UN team probes claims of Iranian exile camp 'massacre' -- The Telegraph
Iranian exiles report deaths in Iraq camp -- USA Today/AP
47 Iranian dissidents slain in Iraq, sources say -- Columbus Dispatch/Reuters
Deadly raid hits Iranian exile group's camp in Iraq -- CNN
Iran Dissidents Killed at Iraq's Camp Ashraf -- Voice of America
Deadly violence hits Iran exiles' Camp Ashraf in Iraq -- BBC
Iraqi Camp for Iranians Faces Deadly Clashes -- New York Times
Outside View Ashraf agony -- UPI

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The Violence And Bloodshed Continues In Iraq

Attacks Killed 800 Iraqis In August: U.N. -- Reuters

(Reuters) - About 800 Iraqis were killed in August, the United Nations said on Sunday, condemning a wave of violence in the country that has reached levels not seen since 2008.

Most of the 804 killed were civilians, targeted in shootings and bombings mainly claimed by the Iraqi wing of al Qaeda. More than 2,000 people were wounded, the U.N. figures showed.

The number of people who were killed last month was however lower than in July, when the U.N. reported that there were 1,057 victims, the highly monthly toll since 2008. Violence in Iraq was at its height in 2006-2007 when the number of people killed per month sometimes exceeded 3,000.

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More News On The Violence In Iraq

UN Says Over 800 People Killed in Iraq in August -- ABC News/AP
Iraq killings reach levels last seen in 2008 -- NBC
More than 800 killed in violence in Iraq in August -- UPI
Some 800 Iraqi Civilians Killed In August -- Radio Free Europe
Iraq: Bomb, shootings kill 14 as al-Qaida claims responsibility for earlier bombing wave -- Washington Post/AP
Gunmen storm Sunni mosque in Iraq, kill 5 worshippers -- FOX News/AP
Turkish diplomat survives attack in Iraq -- Al Jazeera
Iranian dissidents killed in Iraq camp, U.N. demands inquiry -- Reuters
Alleged terrorist shown burned in the street as Iraq struggles to contain spiraling unrest -- Washington Post/AP
Back to square one: Figures show return to total war in Iraq -- Middle East Online
One Great Big War -- David Brooks, New York Times

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Bomb Attacks Rock Baghdad

Bomb Attacks Kill 71 In Baghdad And Suburbs -- Reuters

(Reuters) - At least 71 people were killed and 201 wounded in a series of bombings and other attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday, police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq for at least five years.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, which appeared coordinated, but Sunni Muslim insurgents including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq have significantly stepped up bombings this year.

More than two years of civil war in neighboring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq, fraying the country's uneasy coalition of Shi'ite Muslim, Sunni Muslim and Kurdish factions.

In Sadr City, an impoverished Shi'ite district in Baghdad's northeast, two car bombs killed seven people. A restaurant owner said he saw an attacker just before one of the explosions.

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More News On Today's Bomb Attacks In Baghdad

Iraq attacks kill at least 74 as government goes on ‘high alert’ over possible Syria strike -- Washington Post/AP
Baghdad hit by new wave of deadly bomb attacks -- BBC
Baghdad bomb attacks leave scores dead -- The Guardian
Baghdad bombs: Dozens killed, scores wounded -- CNN
Iraq Attacks Kill at Least 65 -- Wall Street Journal
Death toll in Iraq bombings rises to at least 71 -- Irish Times

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