Bombing kills 12 soccer players, fans in Iraq

Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:53PM GMT

The bomb exploded at 7:00 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Sunday in the Nahrawan neighborhood of southeast Baghdad where a group of youths were playing football at a popular pitch, the sources said. 

Most of the victims were teenagers, the sources added. 

The incident was the latest in a string of attacks across Iraq that have left more than 2,000 people dead since the beginning of April. 

Recently, young soccer players and their fans have been the targets of terrorists after spates of attacks on Sunni and Shia mosques, markets, neighborhoods and the security forces. 

It is not clear that why terrorists have started to target young men interested in sports. 

On Saturday, bombs struck soccer players and spectators at a match, leaving seven people dead and several others injured. 

On Friday, bomb attacks killed at least 22 people, inducing several football players and fans.

FULL STORY: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/30/311618/iraq-bomb-kills-12-s...

Bomb kills 12 soccer players, fans in Iraq

(Reuters) - A bomb planted near a yard where people were playing soccer in Iraq killed 12 people on Sunday, police and medics said.

A further 24 people were wounded in the blast in the town of Nahrawan, south of the capital Baghdad.

The violence is part of a trend of increasing militant attacks since the start of the year, which claimed more than 1,000 lives in May alone, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006-7.

In recent days, men playing in local soccer fixtures and watching matches have been the targets - after spates of attacks on Sunni and Shi'ite mosques, markets and the security forces.

The reason for targeting soccer players is not clear.

On Saturday, bombs targeting soccer players and young men who had gathered to watch a match in Iraq killed seven people.

FULL STORY: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/30/us-iraq-violence-idUSBRE9...