Car bomb attack kills 11 in Iraq

At least 11 people have been killed and 23 others injured after a car bomb exploded near a café northeast of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

According to AFP, the Monday blast, which is the latest in a series of attacks on Iraqi cafes this year, hit one in the town of Buhruz, some 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but systematic bombings are a favorite tactic of al-Qaeda-linked groups that according to Iraqi officials seek to destabilize the country.
On Sunday, about 40 Iraqis were killed in a wave of bombings targeting mostly Shia districts of Baghdad.
Violence has been surging across Iraq in recent months. According to the UN estimates, more than 6,000 people have lost their lives since the beginning of 2013.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed al-Qaeda for killing thousands of people in Iraq, saying that it is “destroying the houses of citizens and killing them, and blowing up government departments.”