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Blasts rip Baghdad despite securityAttacks across Iraq claim 32 lives; 15 bodies found in capital
![]() Men carry the coffin of a relative killed in one of Tuesday's bombings in Baghdad. RELATEDSPECIAL REPORT![]() Interactive: Who's who in Iraq
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Bombings and shootings claimed the lives of at least 32 people Tuesday across Iraq, with most of the incidents in volatile Baghdad -- besieged by daily attacks despite U.S. and Iraqi efforts to establish order. Police in the capital also found more dumped bodies -- 15 bullet-riddled corpses with most showing signs of torture, a style of slayings that has become a signature of Sunni-Shiite sectarian vendetta killings. Bloodshed erupted in other outlying provinces -- Anbar in the west, Diyala in the east and Salaheddin in the north, where a bloody attack in Tikrit occurred on the same day the U.S.-led coalition trumpeted a handover of security in that city. The 4th Iraqi Army Division officially took the lead for military security operations in most of Salaheddin and Tameem provinces north of Baghdad from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. "These turnovers from coalition forces to Iraqi security forces reflect the increased operational capacity of the Iraqi security forces," said U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. George Casey, who issued a joint statement. But Baghdad, in contrast, isn't close to being ready for such a transition; the city is mired in sectarian fighting, which some observers, officers and politicians say resembles a civil war. The United States has sent more troops from Mosul to Baghdad to help Iraqi forces, with the units deploying eight-wheeled Strykers -- regarded as an appropriate armed vehicle for operating in urban areas. They have to deal with the kinds of daily bombings and shootings that took place on Tuesday. Police in Baghdad reported blasts across the capital that killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 75. The latest was an 8:30 p.m. roadside bomb in the southern neighborhood of Dora that killed a police commando and wounded two people. A pair of roadside bombs exploded in the Arabi market Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people and wounding 69 others, according to police. Earlier Tuesday, three roadside bombs exploded in central Baghdad's Nahdha district, killing nine people and wounding eight others, including three police officers. At least two of the bombs targeted Iraqi police patrols, an official said. Also, five people were killed by gunmen who robbed the al-Rashid bank in northern Baghdad and stole the equivalent of $5,000, police said. Prime minister criticizes U.S.-led raidU.S.-led troops have been conducting raids against what have been described as death squads. But one raid early Monday in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood drew criticism from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, comments that illustrated the difficulty of securing Baghdad without alienating the man in the street. At least three people were killed and 15 were wounded, including four children, during clashes that ensued as the raid targeting "punishment and torture" cells unfolded in the Shiite enclave, also a bastion of support for militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Speaking Monday night on Iraqi TV, al-Maliki -- also a Shiite and close to al-Sadr -- said he was "angered and pained" by the operation. He indicated that it was excessive and said it hurt the cause of national reconciliation. Al-Maliki said "the operation used weapons that are unreasonable in efforts to detain someone -- like using planes." He emphasized that "reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way." In other violence on Tuesday attackers shot dead three people -- one of them a teacher -- in two incidents in Muqdadiya, which is north of the Diyala province capital of Baquba. In Baquba, gunmen killed two people in drive-by shootings. A police officer was killed and eight people were wounded in two roadside bombings in Tikrit, and an improvised explosive device detonated in Iraq's Anbar province, killing a civilian operating a tractor, the U.S. military said. Other developmentsCNN's Kim Segal, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Harris Whitbeck contributed to this report. ![]()
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