Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD | Mon Jul 29, 2013 10:43am EDT

(Reuters) - Car bombs ripped through busy streets and markets in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite areas in some of the deadliest violence since Sunni insurgents stepped up attacks this year.

The 17 blasts, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq's mainly Shi'ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi'ites live.

Militant groups including al Qaeda have increased attacks in recent months in an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government as a civil war in neighboring Syria heightens sectarian tensions.

The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown intercommunal conflict in a country where ethnic Kurds, majority Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE96S06420130729

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Updated twice, expect there will be more to come...