At Least 24 Killed in Iraq Violence

Attacks across country include suicide bombing at a wedding party

Insurgent attacks across Iraq, including a suicide bombing targeting a Shiite wedding party, killed at least 24 people Thursday, authorities said.

Attacks have been on the rise in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown in April on a Sunni protest camp. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence during the past few months, raising fears Iraq could see a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

Violence also has stepped up in strikes on so-called soft targets — like civilians at coffee shops or shopping along busy commercial streets. On Thursday night in the northern town of Dujail, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt in the midst of a wedding party for a Shiite family, killing nine civilians and wounding 27, a police officer said.