Accessibility links

Breaking News

Car Bombings, Airstrikes Kill More Than 100 in Iraq


Shi'ite volunteers with the Iraqi Army, lie in hospital beds after being wounded in clashes with militants of the Islamic state, formerly known as the Islamic state in Iraqi and the Levant (ISIL), in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 6, 2014.
Shi'ite volunteers with the Iraqi Army, lie in hospital beds after being wounded in clashes with militants of the Islamic state, formerly known as the Islamic state in Iraqi and the Levant (ISIL), in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug. 6, 2014.

A violent day in Iraq Wednesday left more than 100 people dead, including civilians and Islamic extremist fighters.

Car bombs in two busy Baghdad markets killed at least 47 people.

One blast was in the majority Shi'ite neighborhood of Sadr City. A second bomb blew up in the nearby Ur distinct.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi military officials say airstrikes on a building in the rebel controlled city of Mosul killed 60 extremists.

The apparent target was a prison the rebels were using as a religious court and detention center.

Officials say about 300 people held by the rebels escaped. It is unclear if any civilians were killed.

Sunni extremists have declared an Islamic state in much of northern Iraq and parts of Syria and threaten to overrun Baghdad.

Shi'ite, Kurdish, and moderate Sunni lawmakers are still squabbling over forming a new unity government.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG