The eve of the 10th anniversary of the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq brings more bloodshed: At least 56 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded in bombings in and around Baghdad today, the AP reports. Bombs rocked a market and a restaurant in the capital; another bomb was attached to the bottom of a minibus. A suicide attack, meanwhile, struck a police base in a Shiite area south of Baghdad, Reuters reports. The bombings came 10 years to the day after Washington announced the start of the invasion on March 19, 2003—though by that time it was already the following morning in Iraq.
Today's attacks occurred over a two-hour period; no group has claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants have pledged increased attacks this year. Indeed, sectarian conflict is more of a focus for locals than the anniversary, the New York Times notes. "People are not interested in (the anniversary). They are desperate and want to see real change, so they’ve stopped looking at the news or remembering past events," a local man tells the Times. Adds another: "I don’t think we need to do any kind of celebrating or make an effort to remember that day. I think even the Americans wish they could forget it." (More Iraq stories.)
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