Bombings, shooting kill 20 people in Iraq

Car bombs and a shooting, mainly in Shiite areas, killed 20 people in the Iraqi capital today, officials said.
Police officials said the deadliest attack took place when two car bombs went off almost simultaneously in separate commercial streets in the Shiite neighborhood of Shula in northern Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 19 others.
A car bomb blast near a small restaurant in a Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad killed four people and wounded 13 others, said police.
Earlier, a car bomb exploded near the al-Farasha pastry shop in the Shiite southeastern New Baghdad district, killing five people and wounding 13 others, including women and children.

Also in southeastern Baghdad, gunmen in a speeding car opened fire randomly on pedestrians in the Christian-Shiite neighborhood of Garage al-Amana, killing two people and wounding five others, said police.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for today's attacks. But coordinated bombings against Shiites and the security forces are frequently the work of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq, which has been emboldened by the successes of its fellow militants in the civil war next door in Syria and by widespread Sunni anger at the Shiite-led government.
Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Violence has escalated in Iraq over the past year, particularly since late last month after authorities dismantled a Sunni anti-government protest camp and arrested a Sunni lawmaker.