Security forces inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013.
A series of rush hour bombings in Baghdad killed at least 80 people and wounded scores more on Wednesday, according to official sources. Several blasts shook the northern district of Kadhimiya, with the majority of victims believed to be Shi’ite Muslims.
Iraq has been wracked by spiraling bloodshed with at least 4,137 civilians killed and 9,865 injured so far this year as enmity between Sunnis and Shi’ites becomes ever more vicious. U.N. figures made July the deadliest month for Iraqis in five years with a death toll of 1,057 people, mostly civilians. Baghdad is the country’s worst hit province.
This latest violence comes as the U.S. ponders military intervention in Syria, which is also in the grip of an escalating sectarian conflict as Sunni rebels battle the predominantly Shi’ite military of beleaguered President Bashar Assad.
[BBC]