At least 66 people died Wednesday in Iraq, mostly in and around the capital Baghdad, said security officials, the latest in an upsurge of attacks in the country. According to dpa, a spate of apparently synchronized car bombings left at least 59 dead and about 150 injured in northern and eastern Baghdad. Most casualties were believed to stem from a bombing in the northern district of Kadhimiya, where four back-to-back car bombs went off. Two other car bombings took place in a marketplace in the district of Jisr Diyala in south-eastern Baghdad. Further deadly blasts were reported in eastern Baghdad. There were also five reported dead in an attack in the central city of Baquba. An army officer was killed and seven soldiers wounded in an attack on a security checkpoint in the town of Hilla, some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. Gunmen, meanwhile, shot dead a senior air force official in the northern city of Mosul. The governor of Mosul, Athiel al-Nudjaifi survived an attack in which people ignited explosives near his convoy, reported security forces. UN offices in Baghdad condemned the attacks.
