Pakistan Two bombs, remotely controlled and coordinated to detonate at the same time, killed at least 49 people and wounded at least 100 more in a market in the eastern town of Lahore on Monday. Most of the victims were women and children. NPR reports:
The attacks came hours after a suicide bomber killed 10 outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Islamist militants have carried out scores of bloody bombings in Pakistan in recent weeks. Most have been directed at security forces, though several have targeted crowded public spaces such as markets, apparently to cause terror and increase pressure on the government to call a halt to the offensive. More than 400 people have been killed, including more than 100 in a market in Peshawar in October.
On Tuesday (December 8), bombers struck again, killing at least 12 in Multan, according to BBC. The gun and bomb attack targeted an office of Pakistan’s main intelligence agency.
Iraq A series of six coordinated bombs targeted educational institutions and government buildings in Baghdad, killing at least 112, and injuring at least 450 this morning (December 8), reports the Washington Post.
The bombings appeared to be the latest in a series of coordinated attacks carried out by the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq. They underscored the relative ease with which insurgents continue to smuggle large amounts of explosives through the myriad checkpoints in downtown Baghdad.
Mary Turck
News Day 