String of attacks across Iraq kills scores
Iraqi’s search through the ruins at the site of a bombing in a town south of Baghdad on January 17, 2013.
Insurgents in Iraq unleashed a string of bomb attacks targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq on Thursday, killing scores on a third straight day of violence.
Pakistan's Daily Times put the death toll from violence across the country over three days at 71.
The paper cited weeks of anti-government protests and a "political crisis engulfing the country."
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is facing increasing opposition to his rule, with even government partners calling for his ouster.
The Associated Press wrote that Shiite pilgrims are targeted by Sunni insurgents seeking to undermine the country's Shiite-led government.
The worst attack, according to the AP was near Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, where two car bombs exploded near pilgrims walking to a shrine in the town of Samarra.
CNN reported on two separate incidents at bus stations in Karbala province, south of Baghdad.
CNN wrote that overall, violence had dropped significantly Iraq since 2007, but flare-ups of sectarian violence had "become commonplace again recently."
Last month alone, 208 Iraqi soldiers, police officers, and civilians were killed in attacks, CNN reported, citing figures from Iraq's Interior, Defense and Health ministries.