Iraqis slam govt over deadly wave of bombings

More than 530 people have been killed so far this month, and over 2 800 since January 1, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
In the deadliest incident, gunmen attacked a checkpoint in the Zab area of Kirkuk province in north Iraq, killing five members of an Arab unit of the peshmerga security forces, officials said.

Members of the peshmerga, the security forces of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, are overwhelmingly ethnic Kurds.
Gunmen also attacked a checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing two police officers.

In Taji, north of Baghdad, two roadside bombs exploded near an army base, killing three people and wounding at least 10.
And a bomb exploded in the garden of a house in Besmayah, southeast of the capital, killing two people and wounding four, all from the same family.

The blasts came a day after Baghdad was hit by 12 car bombs, a roadside bomb and a shooting, while another bomb blew up south of the capital. A total of 67 people were killed.
Attacks elsewhere killed another three people on Saturday.

The Baghdad attacks struck as residents turned out to shop and relax in cafes after iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Yesterday, Iraqis sharply criticised the authorities for failing to prevent the bloodshed.

“This is a cartoon government and its security forces cannot protect themselves, let alone protect the people,” one man said sadly near the site of one bombing in central Baghdad.

In Tobchi, a north Baghdad area hit in the Saturday attacks, another man resorted to sarcasm.
“These car bombs come to us from Mars, because the security forces are implementing strict regulations to prevent their entry here,” he said.

A third slammed the aloof attitude of the political elite, who rarely comment on the spiralling violence.
“Iraqis are being protected only by God, because the politicians only care about their positions and personal interests,” he said.

In the first 12 days of Ramadan, more than 340 people have been killed in Iraq violence.
And with 10 days still to go, July is already the second deadliest month of 2013 with a death toll significantly higher than those of January and February                             combined.
In May, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a shake-up of senior security officers, but the violence has continued unabated.  — AFP.