Iran calls for Iraqis' vigilance against enemies' divisive plots

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham condemned foreign support for extremist groups active in Iraq, and called on the Iraqi people and politicians to keep vigilant against the sectarian plots hatched by the enemies to wreak havoc on the Muslim country. Iran has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Iraq, warning against plots to cause sectarian and religious strife in the country. “Undoubtedly, terrorists and their allies (are conducting) such inhuman and savage measures to take revenge on the Iraqi government and nation and destroy the process of democracy and the country’s national interests,” Afkham said on Tuesday. “They are trying to trigger sectarian division and provoke the people to enter Iraq into internal and tribal conflicts,” she added. Afkham expressed Iran’s support for the Iraqi government and nation and called on different groups in the country to hold close consultation aimed at strengthening national unity and setting up an anti-terrorism front. At least 49 people were killed as bombs rocked predominantly Shiite Muslim districts of the Iraqi capital and the Southern city of Hilla on Tuesday, police and hospital sources said. The deadliest violence hit Hilla a small city around 60 miles South of Baghdad, where seven car bombs killed 35 people inside the city itself and in the nearby towns of Haswa, Mahaweel and Mussayab. "Hilla hospital has received 35 bodies so far from seven car bomb blasts," said one health official. A further 90 people were wounded in the blasts. Fourteen more people were killed in explosions in mainly Shiite districts of Baghdad. In one of those, a bomb inside a parked vehicle exploded near a bus station in the Bayaa district, killing five people, the sources said. There were also blasts in the Amil, Ilam and Shurta districts.