Wave of Bombings Hit Baghdad, Kills At Least 63 (VIDEO)
A wave of bombings tore across the Iraqi capital of Baghdad during rush hour on Thursday morning, killing and injuring dozens of people.
At least 63 people are said to have died, and close to 200 have sustained injuries as a result of the bombing- the deadliest attacks Iraq has witnessed in four months.
According to Iraqi officials, at least 14 bombs went off in the capital on Thursday morning. The bombs targeted 11 different neighborhoods, a majority of them Shiite. However, some Sunni areas were targeted as well.
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“The politicians fight for posts and kill people. What did those people do? They were just workers,” one Iraqi civilian told The Telegraph.
The attacks come on the heels of a political crisis between Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish leaders over an arrest warrant issued for the Vice President of Iraq, Tariq al-Hashimi.
The warrant was issued following accusations that al-Hashimi, a Sunni, was running a death squad targeting military and political officials through his control over Iraqi security forces.
Wave of Bombings in Iraqal-Hashimi has called the allegations politically motivated and fled to the northern Kurdish region of the country to evade arrest.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks that appear to have coordinated.
Iraqi Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi condemned the attacks, saying they werea threat to national unity.
The U.S. pulled its last remaining troops out of Iraq only days ago. Although the U.S. officially ended the war, critics say Iraq was left in a fragile state of democracy with high levels of sectarian tension.
Upon the announcement that the U.S. would end the war, many political commentators expressed concern that a less engaged United States would result in a rise in sectarian violence in the country and perhaps lead to all-out civil war.
To watch a video from Iraq following the bombings please view below.
