AT least 11 people were killed in three bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, doctors and police said.
Iraq has become increasingly volatile, with fragile relations between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims under strain from the largely sectarian civil war in neighbouring Syria.
Tensions are at their highest since US troops pulled out of Iraq at the end of 2011.
Two car bombs exploded near police checkpoints at the entrance to the Shi'ite district of Hussainiya in the north of the city yesterday, killing one policeman and seven civilians.
A third bomb near a restaurant frequented by police killed three civilians in the southern district of Doura, medics and police said. At least 33 people were wounded in the three attacks.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Iraq is home to a number of Sunni Islamist insurgent groups including a local al Qaeda affiliate that has launched regular attacks to undermine the Shi'ite-led government and provoke wider confrontation.
Violence is still well below its height in 2006-07. How-ever, April was the bloodiest month since 2008, with 712 people killed in bombings and other violence, the UN Iraq mission said last week. About 1500 people have been killed this year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article