Suicide blasts on Shias kill 31 in Iraq

Twin suicide bombings killed 31 people after midday prayers at a Shia Muslim religious centre in Baghdad yesterday, the latest in violence sparking fears of a revival of full-blown sectarian bloodshed.
Several students from an adjacent university were among the dead, with dozens of others wounded, while security forces shut down the neighbourhood to vehicle traffic and sought to defuse a suspected car bomb nearby.
The attacks come amid a surge in nationwide unrest, with May the country's deadliest month since 2008, that along with a prolonged political deadlock have stoked concerns that Iraq is moving back to the brutal communal violence that blighted it in 2006 and 2007.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda frequently carry out suicide bombings and look to target Shia Muslims, whom they regard as apostates.
Yesterday's attacks struck at the Habib ibn al-Mudhaher husseiniyah, or Shiite Muslim religious hall, in north Baghdad. It lies next to the Imam al-Sadiq university, a private teaching institution.
Many victims were university students who were taking a break from studying for their exams to pray.
According to witnesses and officials, the bombers, who were dressed in suits, began by gunning down the building's guard, followed by the first attacker blowing himself up at the entrance to the hall.
The second militant took advantage of the ensuing chaos and ran through the crowd before setting off his explosives inside the husseiniyah itself.
Meanwhile, bombings elsewhere in Baghdad and north of the capital in Salaheddin province killed two people and wounded six.