Up to 24 people were killed and scores more injured when bombs exploded close to two mosques in Baghdad where Shia worshippers had gathered today to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr.
The morning carnage cast a shadow over the annual celebration, which this year has seen more families venture to once no-go neighbourhoods to visit relatives than in the past three years thanks to an overall drop in sectarian killings.
In the bloodiest attack, a car bomb exploded near to a mosque in Zafaraniyah in south-eastern Baghdad. Up to 14 people were killed and 31 wounded.
A man in his late teens carried out the second blast in the nearby district of New Baghdad. He detonated explosives attached to his body after being accosted by a member of the security forces.
About 10 people died and another two dozen were injured.
Severed limbs littered the bloodied streets at the site of both explosions, while ambulances wailed into action, evacuating the wounded and the dead.
The twin bombings followed a spike in attacks during the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from dawn until dusk. Eid ul-Fitr is a three-day holiday to mark the end of Ramadan.
Iraq’s minority Sunni Arabs celebrated the start of Eid on Tuesday, while most of the country’s majority Shia Arabs began their main celebrations today. Everyone is enjoying a six-day vacation, with parks elsewhere in the capital bustling with activity as families enjoy the time off.
Also marring the festivities, however, gunmen shot dead six Sunni Arabs travelling in a minibus towards Baquba, 60 miles north of Baghdad. The dead comprised two children, three women and a man. They were on their way to visit relatives in the volatile city. Another woman and her small child were injured.
Despite the attacks in recent days, violence in general across Iraq has been falling since the middle of last year. US officials say that attacks are at their lowest level since 2004.
