BBC News Middle East
17 February 2013 Last updated at 09:37 GMT
Deadly car bomb blasts hit Shia areas in Baghdad
Several car bombs have exploded across the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at
least 20 people and injuring scores more, officials say.
The attacks are reported to have targeted mainly Shia areas in the city.
Security sources told the BBC three explosions rocked the neighbourhoods of
Ourfally, Kiyara and Falah Street in the eastern suburb of Sadr City.
Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda have been blamed for a recent spike in
violence.
Although sectarian violence has decreased in Iraq since the height of the
insurgency in 2006 and 2007, attacks are still common.
Tensions have also been building up in the lead-up to parliamentary elections,
due to be held in March.
On Saturday, the head of Iraq's intelligence academy, Ali Aouni, and two
bodyguards died in a suicide blast in the northern town of Tal Afar.
Gen Aouni is believed to be the second prominent Iraq figure to be murdered so
far this year, after an opposition member of parliament was killed in the city
of Falluja in the western province of Anbar.
Earlier this month, at least 33 people died and about 100 were injured in a
spate of car bombings in predominantly Shia areas of Iraq.
The attacks took place as thousands of Sunnis held protest rallies in several
cities against the Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki,
accusing him of monopolising power.
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