By SAMEER N. YACOUB
A Sunni worshiper leaves the Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque after he finds out it is closed at Azamiya area in north Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. Sunni religious leaders said on Saturday that they have decided to close down the sect’s mosques in Baghdad indefinitely to protest attacks targeting clerics and worshippers, highlighting Iraq’s deepening sectarian rift. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
BAGHDAD (AP) — A double bombing at a market and other attacks across Iraq killed at least 27 on Monday, officials said.
Twin explosions went off shortly after sunset at the entrance of an outdoor market in downtown Baghdad, killing 16 shoppers and wounding 35 others, police officials said. Bombings in public places are the hallmark of al-Qaida’s Iraq branch, which is trying to destabilize the Shiite-led government.
Also, three civilians and a policeman were killed and 30 others were wounded when a roadside blast hit a passing police patrol in a crowded commercial street at night in the northern city of Mosul, said local police and hospital officials.
In southern Baghdad, three policemen and a civilian were killed while four other policemen were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a police checkpoint at noon. Also, gunmen killed a Justice Ministry employee in a drive-by-shooting as he was driving home from work in Baiyaa district in western Baghdad.
Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb struck a car carrying two anti-al-Qaida Sunni militiamen in Baghdad’s northeastern suburb of Husseiniyah, killing them both.
The militia, known as the Sahwa, joined forces with U.S. troops at the height of the Iraq war to fight al-Qaida. Iraqi troops and Sahwa fighters have been a favorite target for Sunni insurgents, who consider them to be traitors.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to talk to media.
Today’s attacks bring the death toll across the country this month to at least 360, according to an Associated Press count. Many deaths may go unreported.
Violence spiked in April after security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp, although monthly death tolls remain lower than at the height of the violence in 2004-2008.
