How terrorists pounced on Iraq after US troops pulled out

Baghdad: A look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the US troops pullout on Dec 18, 2011:

Dec 22, 2011: A wave of attacks rips through markets, cafes and government buildings in a dozen, mostly Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing 69 people. Al-Qaeda’s front group in Iraq claims responsibility the following week. [caption id=“attachment_342495” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Iraq has been repeatedly attacked by terrorist organisations.”] [/caption] Jan 5, 2012: Coordinated bombings target Shiite Muslims, killing 78 in Baghdad and outside the southern city of Nasiriyah, just days before a Shiite holy day that annually draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Jan 9: Three car bombs, one of which appeared to target Shiite pilgrims, kill at least 17 people in Baghdad. Jan 14: A bomb tears through a procession of Shiite pilgrims near the town of Zubair in southern Iraq, killing at least 53 people. Jan 26: Insurgents kill 17 people across the country, including 10 killed in a bombing attack on a house of two policemen and their families in central Iraq. Jan 28: A suicide car bomber strikes a Shiite funeral procession, killing 33 in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah in southwestern Baghdad. Feb 19: A suicide bomber detonates his car as a group of police recruits leave their academy in eastern Baghdad, killing 20. Feb 23: Attacks kill at least 55 people as car bombs go off near an elementary school in the town of Musayyib, a restaurant in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah in northern Baghdad and by security forces on patrols, at checkpoints and around government and political offices. March 5: Assailants waving al-Qaeda’s battle flag gun down 25 policemen in a brazen, well-orchestrated attack in Haditha, challenging the government’s control over the strategic town fraught with Iraq war symbolism. March 20: Insurgents bent on derailing an Arab League meeting in Baghdad unleash attacks across the country, leaving 46 dead as they strike against Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, set cars on fire in Kirkuk and target security forces and government officials in Baghdad and other cities. April 19: Bombs rip through 10 Iraqi cities, killing at least 30 people and shattering a month of relative calm. Al-Qaeda later says the attacks aimed to punish the Shiite-led government — and all those who cooperate with it — for injustices against Sunnis. May 31: Bombs explode at a crowded restaurant in Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Shula, near police patrols and target government officials in attacks that kill at least 18. June 4: A suicide bomber detonates an explosive-rigged car outside Iraq’s main religious affairs office for Shiite Muslims, shearing off the facade of the three-story building and killing at least 23 people. June 13: A wave of car bombs strikes Shiite pilgrims in several cities, from Baghdad to Hillah, Karbala, Taji and Balad, killing at least 65 people in 16 separate explosions targeting an annual Shiite pilgrimage commemorating the 8th century death of revered imam. AP