More than a dozen car bombs went off in Shi'ite neighbors across rural Iraqi districts of the Kurdish region. At least fifty individuals were killed and over a dozen were injured.
Violence has been steadily increasing in the Baghdad region over the past year, mainly as a Sunni response to the Shi'ite power granted after the fall of Saddam as well as reaction to American departure from the nation. The attacks of this past weekend and Monday mark the first to occur outside of the Baghdad area.
Many officials believe that the violence in neighboring Syria has begun to spill over into Iraq and that Sunni regions are operating in both nations, leading to the massive increase in Sectarian conflict. The attacks of this past weekend only solidified that theory.
Washington Analyst Stephen Wicken states that the attacks of late have been coordinated to occur over a large geographic spread, cause a greater deal of damage, and to occur more regularly.
Iraqi officials have called to put together a Shi'ite led militia group to fight off and prevent Sunni attacks and bombings.
The threat of possible civil war has been raised as conflict rises between the two groups and the violence of neighboring Syria echos across the border.
With Iraq still being in such a fragile state after American intervention are they more prone to fall into a full-scale civl war? What will American intervention in Syria mean for Iraqi and American relations if war takes off in Iraq?
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