DHAKA: At least 21 people have been killed in blasts targeting markets in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, reports say.

Bombs in the Sabaa al-Bour area, north of Baghdad, killed at least 14 people, officials said. More than 40 others were reportedly injured as the area was packed with shoppers.

A blast in the Dora district, south of Baghdad, killed a further seven people.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.

More than 5,000 people have died so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to the United Nations.

The violence was triggered in April by an army raid on a Sunni Muslim anti-government protest camp near Hawija, also north of Baghdad.

The country has also seen a spill-over of violence from the conflict in Syria, which has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones.

In recent weeks, Iraqi security forces have reportedly arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as part of a campaign which the Shia-led government is calling "Revenge for the martyrs".

But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the violence.

Source: BBC
BDST: 1618 HRS, SEP 26, 2013
AKA/MZR