More than 60 killed in latest Iraqi bombings

Over 60 people have died and more than 280 been injured following a barrage of co-ordinated attacks across eastern Baghdad neighbourhoods…

Over 60 people have died and more than 280 been injured following a barrage of co-ordinated attacks across eastern Baghdad neighbourhoods in Iraq, police said.

The latest violence last night - which included explosives planted in apartments, car bombs and several rocket and mortar attacks on mainly Shia neighbourhoods - came as Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Iraqi forces should have control over most of the country by year's end.

The toll from the Baghdad bombings stood at 64 people dead and 286 wounded, police said this morning.

The attacks centred on neighbourhoods controlled by Shia militias, some of which Sunni Arabs accuse of running death squads.

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Attackers rented apartments and shops in buildings a few days ago and planted explosives in them, detonating the devices by remote control almost simultaneously yesterday evening, the director of the Interior Ministry's counter-terrorism unit said.

The attacks occurred between 6pm and 6.30pm and included a car bomb at a market, another behind a telephone exchange building and several rocket and mortar attacks.

More than 400 have died in violence over the past week in Iraq.