It hasn’t quite made the top of the news here in the United States, but Iraq is in the midst of a very violent week. On Tuesday, at least 49 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a line of police recruits in Tikrit. Yesterday, a suicide bomber driving an ambulance killed 15 people in Diyala. They were also lined up a recruiting station for security forces.
Today, sources are reporting of yet another mass casualty event. As many as 45 Shiite religious pilgrims were killed in twin suicide bombings in Karbala. From GlobalPost:
Suicide bombers launched deadly attacks for a third straight day in Iraq, killing scores of Shiite pilgrims marching toward a Shiite shrine Thursday as well as a provincial police headquarters.
As many as 45 pilgrims were killed and 110 others wounded in two suicide bomb attacks in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, south of Baghdad.
Earlier in the day, two Shiite pilgrims making a three-day trek by foot to Karbala for Arbaeen were killed and 17 others wounded in two bomb attacks, in Baghdad and in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, Xinhua reported.
Things have definitely taken a turn for the worse in Iraq. Who knows when this current round of carnage will cease. What I’m dumbfounded about is why no-one really seems to be paying much attention to it.