THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, AL JAZEERA
At least 93 people were killed in a string of bombings and shootings across Iraq on Monday morning, in the deadliest day so far this year. According to Iraqi officials, the death toll could still rise.
The Associated Press reports that the attacks came a few days after Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq announced the group was reorganizing in areas from which it had previously withdrawn, hoping to take advantage of U.S. troops' departure as well as neighboring Syria's instability and the central government's fragmentation.
The attacks appeared to be coordinated, striking security forces and government officials in 13 cities across the country, including Baghdad, where sixteen people were killed in a single car bomb targeting an Interior Ministry building.
According to the Associated Press, the worst attack took place 12 miles north of the capital in the city of Taji, where car bombs and a suicide bomber killed 41 people.
Five people were killed, including three civilians, in several car bombs targeting police in the northern city of Kirkuk, according to Al Jazeera. Nineteen others were injured.
Also in the north, three carloads of gunmen attacked an army base near Udaim, killing thirteen soldiers and escaping before they could be caught, according to two senior officials who spoke with the Associated Press.
