Two days of seeming respite were broken by a string of deadly bombings around the capital. At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 30 more were wounded there and in northern Iraq. One Iranians was killed and nine more were wounded as well. The Iranians are in Iraq to visit holy sites for the Arbaeen holiday and easy targets for bombers.
While it is unlikely that no violence occurred after three consecutive days of large-scale attacks, it is not unusual, for local reporters to be on leave during holidays such as Arbaeen. Meanwhile, Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi warned of more attacks ahead of the Arab Summit in March.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki further centralized his power by gaining the right to oversee several important commissions that were formerly controlled by parliament. Those include the Central Bank of Iraq, the Integrity Commission and the High Commission for Human Rights and, most alarmingly, the Independent Higher Electoral Commission.
In other news, Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr returned to Iran after a brief stay in Najaf, and a British security guard accused of murdering two colleagues is claiming he acted in self-defense.
In Baghdad, one Iranian was killed and nine others wounded in a blast near the Imam Mousa Al-Kathim shrine in Kadhimiya . Car bombs targeting a hotel in central Baghdad and police in Ilam and Mesbah killed three and wounded 18 others. Four people were wounded by a blast in Karrada. At least five other people were reported killed.
A blast in the Baghdad suburb of Taji killed two people and wounded four others.
Another suburb, Tarmiyah, suffered a blast in which two boys were killed.
A strangled man was found in Mosul.
A Sahwa commander and three guards were wounded in another blast in Taza.
