Suicide Bombings Kill 12 in Central Baghdad

Suicide bombers attacked the central district of Iraq's capital Thursday, killing at least 12 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts in two predominantly Shi'ite neighborhoods in Baghdad, but they resembled the frequent bombings there by Sunni militants during the past decade.

One bomber killed eight civilians and a police officer, while also wounding at least 18 people in the Bab al-Sharji area.

Another attacker in al-Wathba Square killed two police officers and three civilians.  The second blast also wounded 12 people.

The number of civilian and military deaths from terrorism and armed conflict had fallen in Iraq from about 6,800 in 2008 to 3,200 in 2012.  But 2013 began a particularly violent pattern with deaths more than doubling that year, and then nearly doubling again to about 16,000 last year as Islamic State militants seized control of large areas in western and northern Iraq.

Through the first eight months of 2015, the level of violence has remained roughly the same, but with Iraqi security forces accounting for a much higher percentage of the total.  In all of 2014, about 3,700 troops were killed, according to data from the U.N. mission in Iraq.  This year, more than 4,000 members of the Iraqi security forces have already been killed as the military presses campaigns to try to regain territory from the militants.

The Iraqi troops have been backed by thousands of airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition during the past year, but have struggled to make progress as the Islamic State maintains control of territory, including several major cities.
  voanews.com
17/9/15
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