Baghdad attacks kill 64, wound 286

Rescue crews pulled bodies from the wreckage of bombed buildings Friday after a barrage of co-ordinated attacks across eastern Baghdad killed at least 64 people and wounded more than 286 within half an hour, police said.
Thursday’s violence — which included explosives planted in apartments, car bombs and several rocket and mortar attacks on mainly Shiite neighbourhoods — came even as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqi forces should have control over most of the country by year’s end.

Authorities reported more violence Friday, saying gunmen fatally shot one policeman in each of two towns outside of Baghdad in separate incidents. Police also said they found the body of a Saddam Hussein-era intelligence officer who had been kidnapped and shot.

The death toll from the Baghdad bombings rose to 64 as more bodies were recovered, police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said. Across the country, a total of 85 people were killed Thursday.

The Baghdad attacks centred on neighbourhoods controlled by Shiite militias, some of which Sunni Arabs accuse of running death squads.

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