During the first two weeks of July 2013, a series of coordinated bombings and shootings struck across several cities in Iraq, killing at least 389 people and injuring more than 800 others.
The protests had been largely peaceful, but insurgents, emboldened by the war in neighboring Syria, stepped up attacks in the initial months of 2013.
Unidentified gunmen shot three people dead at a pet food store in Zaafaraniya, while a sticky bomb killed a university professor nearby.
[1] In the northern city of Mosul, four Iraqi Army soldiers were killed and four others injured during clashes with insurgents in the western parts of town.
[1] After a week without any major series of attacks, violence once again erupted on 11 July, with at least 96 people reported killed and 191 others injured across the country.
[2] The deadliest incident took place near Barwana, across the Euphrates river from Haditha, where insurgents attacked an Iraqi Army checkpoint, killing 3 soldiers and injuring 4 others.
The attackers then proceeded to a nearby trailer, where they killed 11 members of the special Oil Protection Police, who were breaking their Ramadan fast at the end of the day.
In the former insurgent stronghold Fallujah, a car bombing killed six people, including four policemen, and left 14 others injured.
[2] In the capital Baghdad attacks were few, with two car bombings in Doura and Karrada killing 3 police officers and injuring 11 other people.
[2] Twin suicide bombers struck in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 7 policemen and injuring more 18 others, including civilians.
Similar incidents in Debs, Kirkuk, Samarra and Khan Bani Saad injured a total of 28 people.
[2] On 12 July, a suicide bomber attacked a restaurant in Kirkuk shortly after the Iftar meal that marks the end of fasting for the day during Ramadan.
Another blast in Shirqat killed two Sahwa members and injured three others, while gunmen shot dead a police brigadier general.
[4] A car bomb was detonated at a mosque in Baghdad's Doura neighborhood late in the evening, killing 16 and injuring 27 others.
[4] Bakeries and restaurants packed with people at the end of the day's fasting were again the preferred target on 14 July, as another series of attacks spread across Iraq.
Roadside bombs in Salman Pak, Saniya, Hillah and Baqubah killed four people and left 12 others injured.
A suicide bomber was the only casualty during an attack in Suwayra, while a government employee was injured by a sticky bomb in Samarra.