Wave of attacks kills at least 64 in Iraq

Security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 9, 2012. Violence struck at least 10 cities across the nation Sunday. / (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani

Last Updated 1:58 p.m. ET

(AP) BAGHDAD - Insurgents killed at least 64 people in a wave of attacks against Iraqi security forces on Sunday, gunning down soldiers at an army post and bombing police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said.

The violence, which struck at least a dozen cities and wounded 285 people, highlighted militant attempts to sow havoc in the country and undermine the government.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but security forces are a frequent target of al Qaeda's Iraq branch, which has vowed to reassert itself and take back areas it was forced from before U.S. troops withdrew from the country last year.

"What kind of life is this?" said Safeen Qadir, 26, a university student in Kirkuk. He described dead bodies and weeping, shouting relatives at bombing scenes in Kirkuk, where three midmorning explosions killed seven and wounded about 70.

"Because of the daily explosions, we must write our wills before go out of home," Qadir said. "The death exists in every inch of the city of Kirkuk, and no one is spared from the crime of terrorism."

In Sunday's deadliest attack, gunmen stormed a small Iraqi Army outpost in the town of Dujail before dawn, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding eight more, according to police and hospital officials in the nearby city of Balad, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to reporters.

Hours later, a car bomb struck a group of police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs with the state-run Northern Oil Co. outside the northern city of Kirkuk. City police commander Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir, no relation to the university student, said seven recruits were killed and 17 wounded. He said all the recruits were Sunni Muslims and blamed the early morning attack on al Qaeda.

The carnage stretched into the country's south, where bombs stuck to two parked cars exploded in the Shiite-dominated city of Nasiriyah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The blasts were near the French consulate and a local hotel in the city, although the consulate did not appear to be a target of the attack.

Local deputy health director Dr. Adnan al-Musharifawi said two people were killed and three were wounded at the hotel, and one Iraqi policeman was wounded at the consulate. Al-Musharifawi said no French diplomats were among the casualties.

In Paris, France's Foreign Ministry said it "condemns with the greatest severity" the wave of attacks. In a statement, the ministry said it "especially condemned" the attack outside France's honorary consulate in Nasiriyah, which killed an Iraqi police officer and wounded a passer-by.

A statement by Iraq's Interior Ministry blamed al Qaeda for the onslaught.

"The attacks today on the markets and mosques are to provoke sectarian and political tensions," the statement said. "Our war against terrorism is continuing, and we are ready."

Al Qaeda's Iraq franchise, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has for years had a hot-and-cold relationship with the global terror network's leadership. The two shared the goal of targeting the U.S. military in Iraq and, to an extent, undermining the Shiite government that replaced Saddam Hussein's regime.

But al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri distanced themselves from the Iraqi militants in 2007 because their attacks also killed Iraqi civilians instead of focusing on Western targets.

A string of smaller attacks Sunday also struck nine other cities, including Baghdad.

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[CincyJazzy]

America has the same problem with crime. Time for Iraq to understand and deal with it.

[bradkt1]

It seems that the only person who had any real common sense in the George W. Bush Administration was Colin Powell. He warned them that when it came to Iraq, "If you break it, you own it."

Well...we own it now. There is no inexpensive or pain-free way for us the "manage" the problems in Iraq and if we stay, we will continue to have a never-ending drain of casualties and money...only to continue to reap the sectarian violence that we see today.

There is no "victory" to be had for the United States in Iraq.
The only question for the U.S. is whether to leave or stay.
I say that President Obama did the right thing by deciding to leave. It was the best choice between two bad choices. We should never have gone into Iraq in the first place.

The only thing that we have accomplished here is to clear the way for Iran to take over after we leave. Unless we go to war with Iran very soon...before they can consolidate their gains in Iraq and after the Assad government in Syria falls...our next war will be against a united Iran and Iraq.

If we are going to have to fight Iran (and I think that we will), let's not do this so we have to fight Syria and Iraq, too. We will probably have to fight Iran's ally Hezbollah as well...who we do have a score to settle with (remember the kidnappings in Lebanon and the murder of Col. Higgins?).

The timing of this is going to be like threading a needle and that's why we cannot let Israel and its amen corner flock of neocons determine when this war is going to happen.

[JJorgeson]

Colin Powell told the world that Iraq had WMD. He didn't have the courage to explain that his "proof" came from torture. 400,000 died because of Powell's common sense.

[bradkt1]

Colin Powell was against torture. He was lied to by the neocons who used him to mislead the United Nations. He was the only honorable person out of that entire slimey lot.

[formerlyluvnut]

As long as they are killing each other......good.

[magnumdr]

What is wrong with these people! It seems like killing has become a way of life for these people. When will it all stop so everyone can start rebuilding their lives and live in peace?

[FP1970]

This is the future that we are exposing our children and grandchildren to if we keep flooding the West with immigrants from the Islamic world. Western hipsters will find out the hard way that they are not exempt from Islamist terror by proclaiming themselves "above it all".

[duzmafuzt]

Yup. Hipsters? Truth be told. I believe you mean diaper dopers. Funny, those guys were sure world peas was the answer. Now, they keep at it. If some how the world would just make peas not war. The hipsters arrogance assesses someone else, is to blame, for our recent economic collapse. While hipsters place blame, apologize for being profitable, and stretch the American Taxpayer's dole, others come in and fill the void the Greatest Generation is leaving behind, because the Diaper Dopers, are above doing, what the old timers did, to get er done. Bummer.

[tvwatcher5345]

lt colonel cowan (former marine, fox news contributor) said "saddam was horrible, but he kept iraq stable, now without saddam we see the rise of iranian influence and daily assasinations" too bad the bush adimistration pushed by the pro-israeli neocons removed saddam, it has resulted in the rise of iran, and now the al maliki gov't in iraq along with iran supports assad in syria....thank you pro-israeli neocons you destroyed thousands of American lives, spent a trillion US tax payer dollars, but the the iranian government and the mothers of the pro-israeli neocons think they did a great job

[bobnjersey]

[Blame obama. He has completely mismanaged the middle east.]
------------------------------------
maybe if we get rid of obama the middle east will go back to the peaceful place it was before 2008.

what do you suppose is wrong you people?

are you really that f'n stupid ... or can you use some psychological defect as the excuse for your obvious ignorance?

[Resin-Smoker]

I'm dreaming of glass parking lots.

[realisticfromthemiddle]

So much for the Muslim prohibition on killing Muslims. This proves that it has nothing to do with their religion and is all about a power grab. Just like many others in the world, they cloak themselves in religion to justify their actions. These actions just happen to be a bit bloodier than some others.

[ksmit2]

It's tragic when violence and carnage have no end in sight. Each day
a fresh new taunt to remind the civilized law abiding world that
no amount of money or lives spent will ever be enough to end the killing. How many years can a book go without reaching a back cover.

[naksuthin]

I wish Sadaam Hussein were back in power.
When he was alive he persecuted the Shiahs and the Kurds but kept foreign elements out. He also forced it to invest in ground forces to protect their borders. Now with a friendly Iraq, Iran is free to invest in developing nuclear technology instead

Invading Iraq will go down as the biggest, most expensive and most futile wars the US has ever fought.