Nine killed in Karbala bombings

A series of blasts at a passport and ID card office in the Iraqi city of Karbala killed at least nine people and injured 99, while violence elsewhere claimed another three lives.

AFP

A roadside bomb in the centre of Karbala was followed by three more when emergency servives arrived, officials said, warning that the death toll could rise.

Karbala is a mainly Shia-Muslim city that is home to the mausoleums of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Abbas and has been the scene of sectarian attacks by Sunni groups, as well as conflict between Shia politician Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army and US troops and Sunni militias.

In the western city of Ramadi two bombs killed two people and injured six.

A first blast took place at the home of tribal chief Mohammed Awwad, killing a woman and two girls. It was followed by a second blast when police arrived at the scene, killing a man and wounding four others, three of whom were police officers.

Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, the scene of Sunni insurgency until 2006 when local tribes sided with the US military against Al-Qaeda.

In the north Baghdad area of Hurriyah the driver of an official in the human rights ministry was shot dead by gunmen using silencers, according to the interior ministry.