70 killed, 150 injured in Iraq bombing and shooting incidents

More than 70 people have been killed and over 150 others injured in several bomb explosions and shooting incidents across Iraq.

Iraqi security and medical sources said nine bomb explosions struck predominantly Shia districts of the capital Baghdad on Monday, killing dozens of civilians and wounding over 130 others.

One of the bombs exploded near a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing eight people and injuring 15 others.

Another thirteen people were killed after a bomb went off near a market in a Shia-majority area of Baghdad on Monday.

The bombings came minutes after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to overhaul the country’s security strategy, amid a wave of violence that has killed 340 people so far in May.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but such large-scale bombings bear the hallmarks of al-Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq, who seek to destabilize the central government.

Earlier in the day, eleven people died when two massive car bomb blasts hit the city of Basra, located about 420 kilometers (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

The first explosion struck the Hananiya neighborhood near a busy market. The second bomb was set off inside a bus terminal in Saad Square.

In another incident, the bodies of 13 people kidnapped on Saturday were found in a desert in Anbar Province with bullet wounds to their heads and chests. Six policemen were among the dead.

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on May 2 that April has been the deadliest month in Iraq since 2008 as terrorist attacks killed over 700 people and injured more than 1,600 across the country.

UNAMI also stated that Baghdad was the worst affected governorate, with a total of 211 killed and nearly 500 injured.