Attacks kill at least 16 people in Iraq
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  • (JULY 8-14)

    According to reports, attacks killed at least 16 security personnel in Iraq’s restive Anbar province, at the start of the holy month of Ramadan. The killings are the latest in a wave of bloodshed that has left more than 2,600 people since the start of April. The months-long eruption of violence which is Iraq’s worst in half a decade is raising fears the country is again returning to the brink of a civil war pitting its Sunni and Shia Muslim sects against one another. Anbar is a vast Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad and bordering Syria. It has been the centre of months of protests by Iraq’s minority Sunnis over what they believe is second-class treatment by the Shia-dominated government. Sunni militant groups have tried to tap into that anger and link their cause with that of the protesters. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Sunni militants, including Al Qaeda’s Iraq arm, frequently target security forces and the country’s vital oil infrastructure in an effort to undermine the Shia-led government. 1

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