Suicide bomber kills 48 students in Nigeria.

POTISKUM | Dwan | AP | 10 nov 2014 : : A suicide bomber disguised in school uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly in the northeast Nigerian city of Potiskum on Monday, killing at least 48 students, according to survivors and a morgue attendant.

Soldiers rushed to the scene, grisly with body parts, in the capital of Yobe state, but they were chased away with stones and calls by people angry at the military's inability to halt a five-year-old Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

A suicide bomb attack in the same city killed 30 people one week ago, when suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a religious procession of moderate Muslims.

Some 2,000 students had gathered for Monday morning's weekly assembly at the Government Technical Science College when the explosion blasted through the school hall, according to survivors who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.

“We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 am, when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body,” 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya said from the general hospital, where he was being treated for head wounds.

Hospital workers said dozens are being treated including people with serious injuries that may need amputations.

A morgue attendant said 48 bodies were brought to the hospital and all appeared to be between the ages of 11 and 20 years old. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to give information to reporters. (Courtesy : Dawn.com)

33 people killed in Iraq bombings.

33 people killed in Iraq bombings.

Baghdad | AFP  | 21 Jul 2013 :: A coordinated wave of car bombings tore through commercial streets in Baghdad tonight, killing more than 30 and wounding dozens as insurgents kept up a relentless offencive during the holy month of Ramadan.

The blasts struck in Shiite Muslim areas of the Iraqi capital. Although there was no claim of responsibility, coordinated bombings against Shiites are a favourite tactic of al-Qaeda's Iraq branch.

The explosions were all caused by car bombs timed to go off after the breaking of the daily Ramadan fast when many people are out shopping or relaxing in coffee shops, police said.

Bombings and other attacks have killed more than 230 people since the start of Ramadan on July 10. The violence is a continuation of a surge of bloodshed that has been rocking Iraq for months, reviving fears of a return to the widespread sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Today's blasts began with an explosion in a busy shopping street that shook buildings in the central Baghdad  neighbourhood of Karrada. Police say that attack killed nine and wounded 17, and left several shops and food stalls damaged.It was followed by similar car bombs that struck the northwestern Tobchi district, killing eight and wounding 29, and Baiyaa in western Baghdad, killing thee and wounding 13, authorities said.Another blast struck Zafaraniyah in southeastern Baghdad, killing six and wounding 15, officials said. Yet another exploded near a bakery in the New Baghdad neighbourhood in the southeast, killing three people and wounding 11, authorities said.

Another car bomb exploded in a Shiite part of the religiously mixed western neighbourhood of Shurta, a mainly  Sunni area, killing four and wounded 12, authorities said.

Hours before the Baghdad blasts, gunmen in pickup trucks shot and killed the local leader of a local Sunni militia opposed to al-Qaeda and two of his bodyguards near the city of Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital, according to police. Baqouba is the provincial capital of Diyala.

The official, Bassem Mahmoud, headed a Sunni group known as Sahwa, which joined the fight against al-Qaeda during the height of Iraq war.

Police provided details of the attacks, while hospital officials confirmed the death tolls. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to media.

These attacks came only a day after a deadly bombing at a Sunni mosque in Diyala killed 22 people and wounded dozens.(Courtesy:News 24)

Iraq: 21 dead as bomb blasts strike Sunni mosques in Baghdad.

14 Jul 2013 :: Bombs have exploded outside two Sunni mosques in Baghda, killing at least 21 people leaving prayers and extending a wave of daily violence rippling across Iraq since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

A separate attack at a funeral northeast of the capital killed at least three others.

Police said the first Baghdad blast went off around 10pm near the gate of the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque in the capital's southern Dora neighbourhood, a largely Sunni Muslim area. It struck just after the end of special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan.

At least 16 people were killed and 31 were wounded, police said. A hospital official confirmed the casualty toll.

Soon after, a car bomb exploded at another Sunni worship center, the Mullah Huwaish mosque, in the Hay al-Jami'a area in western Baghdad. That blast killed five and wounded 19, according to police and health officials.

Iraq is weathering its worst eruption of violence in half a decade, raising fears the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006 and 2007. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April.

The pace of the bloodshed has picked up since Ramadan began on Wednesday, including a suicide bombing at a coffee shop in the northern city of Kirkuk late Friday that killed dozens.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the recent wave of attacks.

Sunni extremists, including al-Qaeda's Iraq branch, frequently target Shias, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shia-led government in Baghdad. They also could be behind Saturday's attack on the Sunni mosques, hoping that the bombings will spark a sectarian backlash against Shias.

Shia militias, which have been remobilizing and sending fighters to confront mostly Sunni rebels in neighboring Syria, also could be to blame.

Once-rare attacks on Sunni places of worship have risen in recent months as sectarian tensions grow, raising the prospect that Shia militias are growing more active.

Iraq's minority Sunnis have been protesting for months against the Shia-led government, alleging they receive second-class treatment. Sunni militant groups have tried to tap into that anger by linking their cause to that of the demonstrators.

In another attack Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in the town of al-Abbara, near the city of Baqouba, which is about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Police and hospital officials said that attack killed three and wounded 10.(Courtesy:The Telegraph)