Iraq: Funeral bombings, police station and other attacks leave 83 dead

GlobalPost
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A pair of bombings during a funeral procession and other attacks, including one on a police station, killed at least 83 people in Iraq on Saturday.

The funeral attack happened around dusk near a tent packed with mourners in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad, according to The Associated Press.

One of the bombers detonated an explosives-laden car, while another blew himself up on foot nearby.

At least 72 people were killed, and more than 120 wounded, the AP reported.

Earlier Saturday, suicide bombers attacked a police station in the city of Baiji, killing at least seven Iraqi police officers and wounding 21 others, according to Agence-France Press.

Reuters said the ambush sparked a lengthy shootout with the four bombers.

In other violence, gunmen shot and killed two prison guards after storming their houses in a village near Mosul early Saturday. Also in Mosul, two soldiers were killed and four others wounded by a roadside bomb. 

The incidents come amid a dramatic rise in extremist violence in Iraq, with 4,000 people reported killed since April.

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