Over 32 martyred in Shia majority southern Iraq

More than 32 people have been martyred in a car bomb attack near a security checkpoint in Shia majority southern Iraq.

Police officers say the blast was carried out at the entrance of Shia-populated city of Hillah on Sunday.

Officials added that six security personnel are among the victims of the attack, which wounded another 147 people.

    “Some of the victims were burned inside their cars,” a police officer said.

The attack came a day after at least 13 people, including a parliamentary candidate and four children, were killed in bombings and shootings in Iraq.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence since last April.

The UN says more than 8,860 people were killed in attacks in 2013. Over 1,500 people also died in similar incidents in January and February of this year alone.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Saturday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are fueling militancy in Iraq.

In an interview with France 24, the Iraqi premier said the two countries have effectively declared war on Iraq by inciting sectarian violence in the country.
He also blamed neighboring Arab states for destabilizing Iraq by supporting al-Qaeda-linked militant groups operating in the country.

Maliki said Riyadh and Doha have been providing political, financial and media support to militant groups and “buying weapons for the benefit of these terrorist organizations.”
Iraq has been experiencing its deadliest cycle of violence in the past six years, with Anbar Province viewed as the epicenter of al-Qaeda-linked militancy that has gripped the western part of the country over the past weeks.