Second Bloody Day in Iraq: 22 Killed, 61 Wounded

Updated at 1:28 p.m. EDT, Sept. 30, 2011

At least 22 Iraqis were killed and 61 more were wounded in new attacks, including one that targeted mourners at a funeral in Hilla. This is the second day in a row that dozens have been killed or wounded in violence.

A massive car bomb exploded at a funeral for a prominent sheikh, killing 18 mourners and wounding at least 47 others. The blast occured in a parking lot belonging to a Shi’ite mosque just outside of Hilla. This is the second major attack in two days. Yesterday, bombers targeted bank patrons in Kirkuk, killing three and wounding 79 others there. It is also the second major attack in a suburb of Hilla this month. On Sept. 14, bombers killed 17 people and 46 more during an attack on police and Shi’ite pilgrims at a restaurant.

In Kirkuk, police found the body of a taxi driver who had been choked to death with twine.

A bomb wounded five members of a family, including three children, in Riyadh.

In Baghdad, a gunman on a motorcycle killed a police major and wounded a policeman. A soldier was wounded in another shooting in the same neighborhood of Waziriya. Two bombs planted near a building supply store in Zaafaraniya killed two people and wounded six others when they exploded.

A blast in Shirqat wounded one policeman.

A man was kidnapped on a road near Tuz Khormato.

A sticky bomb was discovered on a bus in Kut, but it was safely removed before it could harm anyone.

Suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) members killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded three others during an indirect fire attack in southeastern Turkey. Police in Istanbul arrested 13 suspected P.K.K. members. The P.K.K. uses hideouts in northern Iraq for their base camps. For weeks now, Turkey has retaliated against the group by staging extensive air strikes in Iraq.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber killed one person and wounded several others in Antalya. The bomber could have been a Kurdish rebel, but Islamic and Leftist militants have also staged attacks in Turkey.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.