Middle East Violence and Killing in Iraq During Holy Month of Ramadan is Disgrace

These criminal acts are extremely vicious and cowardly. The image of Islam is hurt even these criminals who commit such acts have no any Islamic values.
Bombings and shootings, including an attack near cafes and ice cream shops, have killed five Iraqis and wounded 14 in the capital and a western town, officials say.

A roadside bomb on Saturday hit a joint Iraqi police-army patrol as it parked by a drinking water plant in the town of al-Baghdadi, local administrator Hikmat Jubeir said.

The blast, at around 9am, killed a soldier and a policeman and wounded another soldier, he said.

Al-Baghdadi town is in Anbar province, which was once a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency.

Also Saturday, gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a Shi'ite cleric as he left an Electricity Ministry office in the New Baghdad district of the capital, a police officer said.

Hours earlier, a bomb exploded around midnight on Friday in Baghdad's western Jamiaa neighbourhood near cafes and ice cream shops, killing two civilians and wounding 13 others, a police officer said. A doctor at a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to talk to the media.

Iraq has seen a general drop in violence since 2008 after a peak, but sporadic attacks still occur around the country.

With the ebb in violence, Iraqis have started going out in the evenings more, especially during the current holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset.