Iraq Attacks Kill At Least 52 -- L.A. Times
A huge bomb near a mosque in the northern Iraq city of Mosul kills 39, mostly Shiite Turkmens.
Reporting from Baghdad -- A series of attacks largely targeting Shiite Muslims killed at least 52 people today, most of them in a powerful car bombing at a mosque on the northern edge of the volatile city of Mosul.
Authorities said most of the 39 victims at the mosque were Shiite Turkmens, a minority group that has frequently been targeted by the Sunni Arab militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq to inflame sectarian and ethnic tensions.
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Update #1: Dozens killed in bombings against Shiites in Iraq -- AP
Update #2: Friday’s attacks on Iraqi Shiites a worrying sign -- Christian Science Monitor
My Comment: The situation in Iraq is unraveling in slow motion. The release by the Iraqi government of thousands of prisoners a few months ago .... insurgents who were primarily arrested by U.S. forces in the past 6 years of fighting and who should never have been released .... is now coming home to roost (as expected).
It is also becoming clear that while the Iraqi Army and Police have made great strides in regrouping into a functional military and police force .... they appear to be ineffective in counter-terrorism and protecting the civilian populations from car bomb attacks.
If this violence continuously repeats itself in the weeks and months to come, sectarian conflict and warfare will be the inevitable result. From my vantage point, the different factions are now regrouping and spoiling for a fight .... and there is very little that the Iraqi Army (by itself) can do about it.