BACKGROUND: Iraq's worst bomb attacks over past year

Apr 4, 2010, 13:51 GMT

Berlin - The triple bomb blasts Sunday in Baghdad which killed at least 50 persons was the latest in major terror bombing attacks seeking to destablized the situation in Iraq.

Following is a list of the most serious attacks over the past year, each of which claimed dozens of lives. The list does not include numerous other bombings with smaller numbers of casualties:

-- March 3, 2010: Four bombs rock the city of Baquba, killing at least 33 people and wounding 58 more.

-- February 5, 2010: At least 42 people were killed, 100 injured in two attacks targeting Shiites in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala.

-- February 3, 2010: At least 25 people were killed and more than 100 injured in deadly bombings targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims flocking to Karbala.

-- February 1, 2010: At least 38 Iraqi Shiite Muslim pilgrims were killed and 89 others wounded in Baghdad when a woman detonated explosives strapped to her body.

-- January 26, 2010: At least 20 people were killed and 80 injured in in a bombing in central Baghdad. The bombing targeted the Interior Ministry's Criminal Evidence Department in the central neighbourhood of al-Karradah.

-- January 25, 2010: By official accounts, 15 people were killed and 58 injured in three car bombs targeting hotels in central Baghdad. But unofficial counts by medical workers say at least 38 were killed and 74 injured.

-- December 30, 2009: At least 37 people were killed and 70 injured in three bombings across Iraq.

-- December 8, 2009: Four devastating bombs shake central Baghdad in rapid succession, killing as many as 127 persons and wounding at least 400.

-- October 25, 2009: Twin suicide truck bombings wreak massive damage in central Baghdad, killing at least 155 people and wounding at least 500.

-- August 19, 2009: At least 100 people are killed and some 1,200 wounded in a stunning and coordinated wave of attacks in central Baghdad. Witnesses say some 10 explosions rocked the city.

-- August 10, 2009: A series of bomb attacks, chiefly targeting Shiites, claims at least 55 lives.

-- July 7, 2009: More than 70 civilians are killed in a wave of attacks within a period of a few hours around Iraq. The targets are residential areas chiefly inhabited by Shiites and the Shabak religious minority.

-- June 24, 2009: At least 74 people are killed, and 150 wounded, in by a bomb in Baghdad. The attack occurred in a busy market square in the chiefly Shiite district of Sadr City.

-- June 20, 2009: Over 70 people are killed by a truck bomb attack near a Shiite mosque in the town of Tasa, south of the northern city of Kirkuk. Over 200 people are injured.

-- April 29, 2009: A total of 50 people are killed by five car bombs in various parts of Baghdad and its suburbs. The biggest tally is 43 killed by three car bombs in the eastern suburb Sadr City.

-- April 24, 2009: Two suicide attackers killed 60 people making their way to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

-- April 23, 2009: At least 87 people are killed in a wave of attacks. In Diyala province north-west of Baghdad, at least 52 people, mainly Iranian pilgrims, are killed by a suicide bomber. In Baghdad, at least 34 people are killed by a suicide bomber.