Baghdad and the whole of Iraq were confronted yesterday with another wave of explosions that occurred not only in the capital but in other cities as well, causing the death of around 17 civilians.

Firstly, according to Iraqi officials, two car bombs exploded in Baghdad yesterday, within a Shiite district, killing eight people and injuring 41, following a terrible round of violence that involved Shiite masked men stopping vehicles on the streets and killing whoever was a Sunni. Thus, 41 Sunni citizens of Baghdad had lost their lives. However, yesterday the violence began when a car which was parked near a repair shop in Sadr City, exploded, being followed within a few minutes by a blast caused by a suicide car bomber who drove into the crowd that had gathered around the first explosion site, and blew himself up.

Another similar event occurred in a separate location in the eastern part of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police Lieutenant Ahmed Qassim, who declared that a roadside bomb exploded near a restaurant and affected a police patrol passing by. Three policemen were wounded.

According to Colonel Adnan al-Obeidi, a bomb exploded in central Baghdad, within the Shurja public market, claiming the lives of three civilians and injuring 18 others.

Other blasts occurred in the rest of Iraq as well, namely in Kirkuk, Hillah and Mahmoudiya. As far as Kirkuk is concerned, according to police Brigadier Sarhat Qadir, a suicide bomb truck exploded near the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistam, the one representing an important minority in Iraq, killing five persons and wounding 12.

A roadside bomb also affected a police patrol in the town of Hillah, 95 km south of Baghdad, killing one policeman and severely injuring four others, stated army Captain Hassim al-Khafaji.

A gasoline station in Mahmoudiya was the center of the next explosion, which wounded 10 civilians, while another bomb hit a police patrol in Baquba, wounding eight civilians and five policemen.

Sunni political leaders expressed their anger with regard to this massive killings, while Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, urged the population to calm down, stating that the country does however stand "in front of a dangerous precipice".