BAGHDAD — Six explosions battered Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods across Baghdad Thursday, killing at least 16 people and extending a descent into the worst sectarian violence since the civil war five years ago. The bloodletting reflects increasing tensions between Iraq's majority Shiite political leaders and the Sunni minority, many of whom believe they have been unfairly treated since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. But the civil war in Syria between Sunni rebels and President Bashar Al-Assad, whose Alawite sect derives from Shi'ite Islam, has aggravated the strife in Iraq. Sunni and Shiite Iraqi fighters alike have been crossing the border to fight on opposing sides in Syria. No group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks, but Sunni insurgents and Al-Qaeda's Iraqi wing have increased their operations since the beginning of the year as part of a campaign to exacerbate inter-communal tensions. A car bomb exploded in the mainly Sunni district of Binoog in north Baghdad, killing at least four people. Throughout Thursday, five other bombs killed 12 people in mainly Shiite and Sunni districts across the capital, police said. A further seven people, including three policemen, were killed in clashes between gunmen and security forces in the northern city of Mosul, officials said. The surge in violence began in April when Iraqi forces raided a Sunni protest camp in the northern town of Hawija, angering Sunni leaders and triggering clashes that spread across the country. More than 1,100 people have been killed since then, raising the risk of a relapse into outright sectarian warfare like that which killed thousands of people in 2006-07. — Reuters
