As sectarian violence between the majority Shiites and minority Sunnis is intensifying and increasing in Iraq, death toll of innocent people in and around the capital city of Baghdad has been on the rise.
The dreadful and enormous bombings possibly performed by Sunni Arab guerrillas at a market in the Shaab district, which is primarily a Shiite town, of northern Baghdad devoured at least 130 lives and left many more wounded with fatal injuries.
Two suicide bombers wearing explosives laden belts around their body killed 76 people, largely women and children, and left above 100 seriously injured in the crowded Shiite marketplace.
The explosions were so strong that rescuers and the health officials had to count separated body parts to estimate the exact number of people killed in the suicidal attacks. A senior Iraqi Health Ministry official in Baghdad, on condition of anonymity, said,
It is impossible to tell the exact number of dead because we are basically counting body parts.
Almost simultaneously, when suicidal bombers devastated the Shaab district marketplace, 53 people were killed and 103 hurt after three suicide car bombs detonated, one in a commercial area, second at a checkpoint near police headquarters and court building and the third one knocked policemen rushing to the blast sight, within minutes in Khalis, 80 km north of Baghdad.
Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, who himself is a Shiite, has urged people to stay calm and united, and co-operate security forces to restore peace and prevent any further violence.
In a similar attack on Tuesday, two truck bombs eradicated 85 people in another Shiite inhabited area of Tal Afar in northern Iraq.
