Spate of attacks on Shi'ite Muslims kills 48 people in Iraq
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Attacks on Shi'ite Muslims killed at least 48 people across Iraq on Thursday, including a suicide truck bomb targeting members of the country's Shabak minority, police and medics said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the attacks, but Sunni Muslim radicals and other insurgents have been regaining momentum this year, and Shi'ites, whom they view as apostates, are a prime target. Militants linked to al Qaeda have in the past attacked Shabaks, who are mainly Shi'ite.
Sectarian tensions in Iraq and the wider Middle East have been brought to a boil by Syria's civil war, which has drawn Sunnis and Shi'ites from the region and beyond into battle.
Seven bombs exploded in primarily Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital late on Thursday, killing 33 people in all, police and medics said. One blast occurred near an amusement park north of Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, killing six children.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE99G0JU20131017
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