Iraq’s Shi’ite South Targeted: 54 Killed, 174 Wounded

Updated at 6:30 p.m. EDT, June 16, 2013

A surge in attacks that began last month resumed after several days of relatively light violence. Shi’ites were targeted in today’s hostilities. Because several of the bombings occurred in southern cities unaccustomed to daily or even weekly attacks, the violence was likely coordinated. Overall, at least 54 Iraqis were killed and 174 more were wounded.

In the southern city of Kut, a car bomb in an industrial area killed six people and wounded fifteen more.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 25 more at an Amin district coffee shop.

At almost the same time, a second bomb, this one in Aziziya, killed five construction workers and wounded 12 more.

Eight people were killed and 29 more were wounded when an explosion took place at a produce market in the holy city of Najaf.

Six people were killed in a double bombing in Basra. At least nine people were wounded.

Gunmen attacked a pipeline south of Mosul in Hatra, where they killed six soldiers and wounded five more.

In Madaen, five people were killed and at least 12 more were wounded when a roadside bomb and then a car bomb exploded.

Two bombs in separate Nasariya neighborhoods killed two people and wounded 35 more.

In Mahmoudiya, two civilians were killed and nine more were wounded at a market.

Two policemen were killed and a third one was wounded in a blast in Tuz Khormato.

A bomb killed one person and wounded nine in Hilla.

In Mosul, a bomb wounded five people, including two soldiers. Four soldiers were wounded in a blast.

A blast wounded four people in Mahaweel.

Two water resources employees were abducted in Riyadh.

Author: Margaret Griffis

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