From 15 to 21 May 2013, a series of deadly bombings and shootings struck the central and northern parts of Iraq, with a few incidents occurring in towns in the south and far west as well.
The protests had been largely peaceful, but insurgents, emboldened by the war in neighboring Syria, stepped up attacks in the initial months of 2013.
[9] The number of attacks rose sharply after the Iraqi army raided a protest camp in Hawija on 23 April 2013.
All of the attacks targeted Shia civilians, with bombs exploding at a bus stop in Sadr City, as well as locations in Kadhimiya and New Baghdad.
In Kirkuk, a suicide bomber attacked a mosque where the memorial service for the victims of the previous day's bombings was taking place, killing 12 people and injuring 36 others.
[2] Violence rose sharply on 17 May, as most of the incidents appeared to target Sunnis in apparent retaliation for previous attacks against Shiites.
[10][12] Later in the day, a roadside bomb killed 8 people and injured 25 others in Madain, a town 12 miles south of Baghdad, near Salman Pak.
[3][10] Gunmen shot dead a candidate for the Nineveh provincial council in Qayara, as well as an inspection department employee and his cousin in Kirkuk.
These included a car bombing in Latifiya that left 5 dead and 10 injured, and an explosion at a stadium in Ramadi that killed 4 and wounded 12 others.
Two local tribesmen were killed and another injured in clashes that took place after the raid, while unidentified gunmen kidnapped 10 Sunni policemen nearby.
The bodies of six of the policemen kidnapped near Ramadi the previous day were discovered on a highway in Al Anbar Governorate, while another officer was shot dead by gunmen nearby.
The blasts took place in the Shoala, Shab, Ilam, Kamaliya, Zaafaraniya, Kadhimiya, al-Shurta and Saba Bour districts and targeted marketplaces and crowded areas along shopping streets.
[6] Security forces attempted to rescue kidnapped policemen in Anbar Province, sparking a firefight that left 12 officers dead and 4 others injured.
[7] In Abu Ghraib, a car bomb near a Sunni mosque killed 11 civilians and injured 21 others, while an ambush left 4 Sahwa members and 2 others wounded.
[7] The spate of attacks heightened fears that violence would continue to rise due to retaliation back and forth between Shias and Sunnis.
[9] Talal al-Zobaie, a Sunni member of the Iraqi Parliament, called on his colleagues to unite and face the enemies of Iraq together.
Sectarianism that has bred armies of widows and orphans in the past is now trying to make a comeback in this country, and everybody should be aware of this", he said in a statement released to the press.
Jawad al-Hasnawi, a lawmaker with the Sadrist Movement, loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said he believed the pattern of attacks was not coincidental, and terrorist groups were trying to reignite sectarian tensions in Iraq.
"But the government bears full responsibility for this security chaos and it has to take quick and serious measures in order to stop the bloodshed, instead of just blaming other political blocs.