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A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 34 people and wounded
121 others at a police checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, police officials said
on Sunday. Iraq has been beset with political and sectarian
violence for months. More than 700 Iraqis were killed and nearly 1400 others were wounded
in terrorist attacks and other violence in February, the United Nations has said.
Sunday's attack happened at the entrance of the city, the police officials told CNN. Hilla
is a predominantly Shiite Muslim city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital,
Baghdad. Two Iraqi journalists who worked at state-run
Iraqiya TV died in the attack, the station reported.
Violence has raged in the country in the past year, often pitting Sunnis a minority in Iraq
against Shiite Muslims, who came to dominate the government after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
was overthrown in 2003. The United Nations said 2013 was the deadliest
year in Iraq since 2008, with almost 8000 people killed.
Security forces have also been fighting insurgents from the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria in western Anbar province, which borders Syria.