Violence rages in Iraq claiming 19 people

Violent acts continued across Iraq Monday as a series of car bombing rocked Shiite-dominated areas, particular in Baghdad, and government forces forged ahead with its military operation against militant groups the Sunni Anbar Province. A security source told KUNA that a car bomb exploded in the mainly Shiite district of Shaab in eastern Baghdad, killing at least four people and injuring a dozen other. Another car bomb blew up in Bab Al-Moadham neighborhood in central Baghdad, killing at least four people and injuring 10 others, the source said, adding that the wounded people were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior's Joint Special Operations Command said police forces backed with army units destroyed a hideout for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and killed 11 of ISIL fighters in two separate operations in the lawless Anbar province. The violence in Iraq has been taking a deteriorating turn in the past few weeks after the Army and security forces broke up a year-long anti-government sit-in in the volatile Anbar city. Tension is festering between the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, a Shiite, and Iraqi Sunnis who accuse authorities of marginalizing and targeting their community, including through wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism. The UN mission in Iraq said violence claimed the lives of 7,818 civilians in 2013, the highest annual death toll in years. The UN figures also showed that a total of 759 people were killed in December alone, including 661 civilians and 98 members of the security forces. The UN's monthly figures for both civilians and security forces over the year totaled 8,868.