Wave of violence kills dozens across Iraq

At least 66 people were killed in bombing and shooting attacks in Iraq on Saturday, adding to fears that Iraq is falling back into the high levels of violence not seen in recent years.

On Saturday, at least 13 people were killed and 32 were injured in a car bombing at a cafe in Balad, near Tikrit, police said. The cafe was also attacked by a suicide bomber in August, killing 16 people.

Another, separate bomb targeting Shia pilgrims in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad killed 48 people and wounded at least 55. The pilgrims were walking to a shrine to commemorate the death of Imam Mohammed al-Jawad.

And in a third attack, a reporter and cameraman working for the Al-Sharqiya television network were shot and killed while working in the northern city of Mosul, according to police.

Three government-backed Sunni militia members were also killed in a roadside bomb explosion south of Baghdad.

This is just the latest attack in an already-bloody month. On Monday, at least 55 people were killed in a wave of bombs across Bagdhad.

Last month, almost 1,000 people were killed across Iraq.

Violence has reached a level unseen since 2008, and there are fears Iraq may relapse into the kind of intense Sunni-Shia bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people.  

Al Jazeera and wire services