Baghdad (CNN) -- A string of car bombings and
shootings across Iraq left nearly 50 people dead Monday, authorities
said, in what is the latest spate of violence in a country plagued with
Sunni-Shiite tension.
Scores were wounded in
cities that were regularly engulfed in violence during last decade's
Iraq war. The violence in recent weeks has conjured fears that all-out
sectarian violence is rearing its head again in Iraq.
"Those who are targeting
mosques and other locations are the enemies of Sunnis and Shiite," Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki said this weekend. "They are plotting to ignite
sectarian strife as they have tried before."
The ever-present tensions
between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites have escalated, especially after an
incident last month in Hawija, in northern Iraq, where Iraqi security
forces raided a site used by Sunni protesters to demonstrate against the
Shiite-led government.
Sunnis, who represent a
minority of Iraqis, have been politically marginalized since the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Shiites, who make up a majority of
Iraqis, now dominate the government.
Al-Maliki, who is Shiite,
is concerned about the rise of Sunni tribes forming an army to defend
themselves and is urging Sunni leaders to help tamp down tensions.
"We are in the planning
stages to make changes within the (military) leaderships and adjusting
plans to take different tactics for confrontation," he said.
Police haven't pinpointed those responsible for assaults, but most victims in the latest round of strikes were Shiites.
Most of the attacks
Monday took place in the capital, Baghdad, where eight car bombs and a
roadside bomb rocked predominately Shiite neighborhoods, police said. In
all, at least 18 people were killed and more than 100 wounded the
strikes, police and health officials said.
Near Samarra, at least
14 people were killed and eight wounded when a car bomb exploded on a
bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims Monday, police said. That strike,
on a highway near the northern Iraqi city, raised fears because of
Samarra's symbolism. Shiites regularly travel to the Askariya Mosque in
Samarra. The bombing of the Shiite shrine in 2006 stoked the sectarian
warfare.
In the southeastern city
of Basra, in the Shiite heartland, at least nine people were killed and
37 wounded when two car bombs exploded Monday in a pair of
neighborhoods. Most of the casualties were civilians, police said. It
was unclear who was responsible for the blasts.
Gunmen ambushed two
police checkpoints in Haditha on Monday, killing eight officers, Ramadi
police said. Haditha is in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province, west
of Baghdad.
Over the weekend in
Ramadi, the bodies of eight civilians who were kidnapped by gunmen on
Saturday were found dead late Sunday night, officials said. The
civilians were abducted on a highway west of Ramadi and were discovered
along a different part of roadway, authorities said. All eight had been
shot to death.
Earlier, the bodies of six police officers who had also been abducted Saturday were found on a highway in western Ramadi.
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