Since the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, bombings have killed thousands of people, mostly civilians. Suicide bombings have been used as a tactic in other armed struggles, but their frequency and lethality in Iraq is unprecedented. During the invasion, the United States and United Kingdom dropped 29,199 bombs. The article does not list these, but concentrates on the smaller number of insurgent bombings during the post-invasion phase of the

Iraqi conflict (2003–present) The Iraqi conflict is an armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and ...

. The main perpetrators of insurgent bombings have been

Salafi jihadist Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...

organisations such as Al-Qaeda in Iraq,

Jamaat Ansar al-Sunna Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit= Assembly of the Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as ...

, and the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

. Their main targets were

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

civilians, and to a lesser extent,

Multi-National Force – Iraq The Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF–I), often referred to as the Coalition forces, was a military command during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and much of the ensuing Iraq War, led by the United States of America ( Operation Iraqi Freedom), Unite ...

forces.

Perpetrators

A 2005

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

report analysed the insurgency in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and highlighted, "The groups that are most responsible for the abuse, namely al-Qaeda in Iraq and its allies,

Ansar al-Sunna Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit= Assembly of the Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as ...

and the

Islamic State of Iraq The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI; ar, دولة العراق الإسلامية '), commonly referred to as al-Qaeda in Iraq ( ar, القاعدة في العراق '), is a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic stat ...

, have all targeted civilians for abductions and executions. The first two groups have repeatedly boasted about massive car bombs and suicide bombs in mosques, markets, bus stations and other civilian areas. Such acts are war crimes and in some cases may constitute crimes against humanity, which are defined as serious crimes committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population."

Analysis

A 2008

RAND The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is finan ...

Research brief on

counterinsurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionari ...

: 2003 - 2006 depicts a chart that shows in June and July 2004, Iraqi insurgents began to shift their focus away from attacking U.S. and coalition forces with roadside bombs and instead began targeting the Iraqi population with suicide bombers and vehicle-borne IEDs. By increasing the number of suicide bombings against civilians and accepting their targeting in retribution, the insurgents sought to expose the weakness of the coalition-Iraqi security and reconstruction apparatus, threaten those who collaborated with the government, generate funds and propaganda, and increasingly enact sectarian revenge. The U.S. failure to adapt to this shift had dramatic consequences. By June 2004, U.S. deaths represented less than 10% of overall deaths on the battlefield and Iraqi deaths represented more than 90% - a figure that remained constant for the next 18 months of the War. An analysis by

Iraq Body Count Iraq Body Count project (IBC) is a web-based effort to record civilian deaths resulting from the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Included are deaths attributable to coalition and insurgent military action, sectarian violence and criminal violence ...

and co-authors published in 2011 concluded that at least 12,284 civilians were killed in at least 1,003 suicide bombings in Iraq between 2003 and 2010. The study reveals that suicide bombings kill 60 times as many civilians as soldiers

Bombings

This article lists all major bombings of the Second Iraq War. For bombings that occurred following the withdrawal of US troops see

List of bombings during the Iraqi Insurgency (2011-present) A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...

2003

2003 Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad On 7 August 2003, a bomb exploded outside the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, killing 17 people and injuring dozens more.

* Canal Hotel bombing * Imam Ali mosque bombing * 27 October 2003 Baghdad bombings *

2003 Nasiriyah bombing The 2003 Nasiriyah bombing was a suicide attack on the Italian Carabinieri MSU headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, south of Baghdad on 12 November 2003. The attack resulted in the deaths of 18 Italian servicemembers, mostly members of the MS ...

2003 Karbala bombings The 2003 Karbala bombings consisted of four suicide attacks on the coalition military barracks in Karbala, Iraq, south of Baghdad on December 27, 2003. The attackers targeted two coalition bases and a downtown Iraqi police station where U.S. ...

2004

2004 Erbil bombings The 2004 Erbil bombings was a double suicide attack on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties in Erbil, Kurdistan Region on 1 February 2004. The attackers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies as hundreds gathered to celebrate Ei ...

2004 Ashura bombings in Iraq The Ashura massacre of March 2, 2004 in Iraq was a series of planned terrorism, terrorist explosions that killed at least 80-100 and injured at least 200 Iraqi people, Iraqi Shi'a Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura. The bombings brought on ...

* 21 April 2004 Basra bombings *

2004 Mosul bombings The 24 June 2004 Mosul bombings were a series of coordinated car bomb attacks in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where five car bombs targeted police stations and a city hospital killing at least 62 and injuring at least 220 people, many of th ...

14 September 2004 Baghdad bombing The 14 September 2004 Baghdad bombing was a suicide car bomb attack on a market, near a police headquarters, in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, on 14 September 2004, killing 47 people and wounding 114.Edward Wong (14 September 2004)"Car Bomb K ...

* 30 September 2004 Baghdad bombing *

2004 Karbala and Najaf bombings The 2004 Karbala and Najaf bombings were car bombings that tore through a funeral procession in Najaf and through the main bus station in nearby Karbala—two Shia Islam, Shia holy cities - on 19 December 2004. 66 people were killed and 191 wou ...

* 2004 Baqubah bombing *

2004 Kufa shelling The 2004 Kufa mosque bombing occurred on August 26, 2004 when the main mosque in Kufa, Iraq was hit by a barrage of mortar rounds. The mortar rounds struck the mosque, killing 74 people, and injuring 315. Weeks before the attack happened there h ...

2004 Forward Operating Base Marez bombing The Forward Operating Base Marez bombing took place on December 21, 2004. Fourteen U.S. soldiers, four U.S. citizen Halliburton employees, and four Iraqi soldiers allied with the U.S. military were killed by a suicide bomber in a dining hall a ...

2005

2005 Al Hillah bombing The Al Hillah bombing killed 127 people, chiefly men lining up to join the Iraqi police forces, at the recruiting centre on February 28, 2005 in Al Hillah, Iraq. The bombing caused a worsening of Iraqi-Jordanian diplomatic relations after it ...

* 2005 Musayyib bombing * 17 August 2005 Baghdad bombings *

14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings The 14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings were a series of more than a dozen terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The most deadly bombing occurred when a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in a crowd of construction workers who ...

* 2005 Khanaqin bombings * 2005 Aladhamiya bombings

2006

5 January 2006 Iraq bombings The 5 January 2006 Iraq bombings were a series of suicide attacks that occurred on 5 January 2006, in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and in Ramadi city centre, each killing about 60 or more. The bombings in Ramadi consisted of two suicide bo ...

* 2006 al-Askari mosque bombing *7 April Buratha mosque bombing *

1 July 2006 Sadr City bombing On 1 July 2006, at around 10:00 A.M, a suicide bombing, suicide car bombing at a crowded market in Sadr City, a Shia Islam, Shi'ite district of Baghdad, killed at least 77 people and wounded 96. The car was a truck loaded with fruit, under which ...

23 November 2006 Sadr City bombings The 2006 Sadr City bombings were a series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Iraq that occurred on 23 November at 15:10 Baghdad time (12:10 Greenwich Mean Time) and ended at 15:55 (12:55 UTC). Six car bombs and two mortar rounds were used in th ...

2007

* Mustansiriya University bombings * 22 January 2007 Baghdad bombings *

3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing The 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing was the detonation of a large truck bomb in a busy market in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on 3 February 2007. The suicide attack killed at least 135 people and injured 339 others. The bomb, estimated ...

* 12 February 2007 Baghdad bombings *

18 February 2007 Baghdad bombings Three car bombs exploded in mainly Shia areas of Baghdad, killing at least 63 people and injuring more than 120 on 18 February 2007. It happened despite a huge military offensive was going on, led by US and Iraqi troops. One of the killed, Ehab ...

2007 Al Hillah bombings The 2007 Al Hillah bombings killed 200 people, mostly Shia Muslims on a pilgrimage, on 6 March 2007 in Al Hillah, Iraq. Two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests joined the huge crowds surging into the city for a traditional religious festiv ...

2007 Tal Afar bombings and massacre The 2007 Tal Afar bombings took place on March 27, 2007, when two truck bombs targeted Shia areas of the Turkmen town of Tal Afar, Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێرا ...

29 March 2007 Baghdad bombings The 29 March 2007 Baghdad bombings was a 29 March 2007, double suicide attack on the al-Shaab market in a Shiite district of northeastern Baghdad. The two bombers, wearing explosive vests, walked into the Al-Shaab market as it was packed with s ...

2007 Iraqi Parliament bombing On 12 April 2007, the canteen of the Council of Representatives of Iraq building was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing one to eight people and wounding 23 others. The attack, in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, occurred ten min ...

2007 Karbala bombings The 2007 Karbala bombings refer to a series of bombings in Karbala, Iraq in April 2007. Imam Hussein Mosque bombing A suicide bomber killed at least 42 people in Karbala on 14 April and injured more than 160. The attacker detonated explosives ...

18 April 2007 Baghdad bombings The 18 April 2007 Baghdad bombings were a series of attacks that occurred when five car bombs exploded across Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, on 18 April 2007, killing nearly 200 people. The attacks targeted mainly Shia locations and civili ...

2007 Makhmour bombing The 13 May 2007 Makhmoor bombing was of suicide attack using a truck bomb that occurred on 13 May 2007, in the northern Iraqi town of Makhmur District, Makhmour. At least 50 people were killed and about 70 people were injured. References Bomb B ...

* 2007 al-Askari mosque bombing *

2007 Amirli bombing The 2007 Amirli bombing was a suicide car bomb attack that occurred on July 7, 2007, in a market in the town of Amirli, Iraq, whose residents are mainly Shia Turkmens. The bombing killed 156 people with 255 injured. See also * 2007 suicide bombi ...

2007 Kirkuk bombings The 2007 Kirkuk bombings were a series of 3 suicide and car bomb attacks that occurred on July 16, 2007, in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk. The bombing killed 86 people with up to 180 injured. The first bomb, which caused most of the cas ...

26 July 2007 Baghdad market bombing The 26 July 2007 Baghdad market bombing were a car bomb, truck bomb and missile, rocket attack on a market in the Karada district of Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, on 26 July 2007, killing almost 100 people. It was first reported that 25 pe ...

* 1 August 2007 Baghdad bombings * 2007 Yazidi communities bombings * 2007 Al Amarah bombings

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* 1 February 2008 Baghdad bombings *

2008 Balad bombing The 2008 Balad bombing occurred on February 10, 2008 when a car bomb detonated in a market in Balad, Iraq, at a strategic Iraqi Army checkpoint. It killed at least 25 and injuring 40 more, though some estimates place the death toll at 33. Some buil ...

* 6 March 2008 Baghdad bombing *

2008 Karbala bombing The 2008 Karbala bombing occurred on 17 March 2008 in Karbala, Iraq. The suicide bomb detonated outside a cafe near the shrine. The bombings killed at least 22 people and injured 30. The dead include seven Iranians. Background Karbala is a ci ...

* 17 June 2008 Baghdad bombing * 2008 Baquba bombings *

2008 Dujail bombing The 12 September 2008 Dujail bombing occurred around 1800 local time (1500 UTC), on 12 September 2008 in Dujail, Salah ad Din Governorate, when a suicide bomber drove and detonated an explosive laden car into a police station killing 31 and inju ...

* Abdullah restaurant bombing

2009

2009 Baghdad police recruitment centre bombing The Baghdad police recruitment centre bombing was a suspected suicide bombing in the city of Baghdad, Iraq, that killed 28 people on 8 March 2009. The attack occurred at 10 am local time ( UTC+3) in the centre of a crowd outside the police ...

* 2009 Baghdad bombings *

23 April 2009 Iraqi suicide attacks The 23 April 2009 Iraqi suicide attacks were two separate suicide attacks which occurred in Baghdad and Muqdadiyah, Iraq, on 23 April 2009. At least seventy-six people are known to have died in the attacks, including several Iranian pilgrims. The ...

2009 Taza bombing The 20 June 2009 Taza bombing was an attack which took place in Taza near Kirkuk, Iraq on 20 June 2009 in a dominant Shia Turkmen community. At least 73 people were killed and over 200 more were injured. Thirty homes were destroyed in the ...

* June 2009 Baghdad bombing * 2009 Kirkuk bombing *

2009 Tal Afar bombing The 9 July 2009 Tal Afar bombing was a double suicide bombing which occurred in Tal Afar, Iraq in July 2009. The bombing occurred when two men detonated explosive vests. The attacks targeted the Governor of the Iraqi Central Bank. However, he was ...

August 2009 Baghdad bombings The August 2009 Baghdad bombings were three coordinated car bomb attacks and a number of mortar strikes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on 19 August 2009. The explosives were detonated simultaneously across the capital at approximately 10:45 i ...

October 2009 Baghdad bombings The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq which killed 155 people and injured at least 721 people. Attack The attack was caused by two suicide car bombs, in a minivan and a 26-seat bus, which targeted the Ministry of Jus ...

December 2009 Baghdad bombings The December 2009 Baghdad bombings were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of at least 127 people and injuries to at least 448 more. The attacks have been condemned internationally as acts of terrorism. Opposition parties wit ...

2010

* 25 January 2010 Baghdad bombings *

1 February 2010 Baghdad bombing The 1 February 2010 Baghdad Bombings was a suicide bombing in Baghdad Iraq which killed at least 54 people, and wounded another 100. The attack was aimed at a group of Shia pilgrims walking to a religious festival. Attack The female suicide bom ...

* 2010 Baqubah bombings *

April 2010 Baghdad bombings The April 2010 Baghdad bombings were a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq that killed at least 85 people over two days. Hundreds more were seriously wounded. The bombings 23 April attacks On 23 April, over a two-hour time span, a wave of coo ...

10 May 2010 Iraq attacks The 10 May 2010 Iraq attacks were a series of bomb and shooting attacks that occurred in Iraq on 10 May 2010, killing over 114 people and injuring 350, the highest death toll for a single day in Iraq in 2010. Background Following the inconclusi ...

* July 2010 Baghdad attacks *

17 August 2010 Baghdad bombings The 17 August 2010 Baghdad bombings were two attacks in Baghdad, Iraq. The first attack in the morning was when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives outside the Iraqi Army division headquarters on potential recruits to the army, some of who ...

25 August 2010 Iraq bombings On 25 August 2010, a string of attacks in Iraqi cities including Al-Muqdadiya, Kut, Baghdad, Fallujah, Tikrit, Kerbala, Kirkuk, Basra, Ramadi, Dujail, Mosul and Iskandariyah targeting mostly Iraqi security forces and checkpoints left at least 53 ...

19 September 2010 Baghdad bombings The 19 September 2010 Baghdad bombings were a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq that killed at least 31 people, in two neighbourhoods of the capital. Over a hundred more were wounded. On 24 September the Islamic State of Iraq claimed respons ...

* 2010 Baghdad church massacre *

2 November 2010 Baghdad bombings The 2 November 2010 Baghdad attacks were a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq that killed more than 110 people. At least 17 explosions occurred in the attacks, 48 hours after the 2010 Baghdad church massacre where 58 people were killed by ...

2011

* January 2011 Baghdad shootings *

January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks The January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks were a series of five consecutive suicide bombings in Iraq. 18 January attack On 18 January 2011, a bomber killed 63 people and injured around 150 in the city of Tikrit. The bombing occurred near a police f ...

24 January 2011 Iraq bombings The 24 January 2011 Iraq bombings were a series of four explosions, two in Baghdad and two in Karbala, which killed at least 27 people and wounded at least 78 more. Two blasts, caused by roadside bombs, occurred in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the ...

27 January 2011 Baghdad bombing At least 48 people are killed and 78 wounded in the 27 January 2011 Baghdad bombing. A car bomb targeting Shias was detonated at a funeral tent in the north-western Shula district of Baghdad.2011 Tikrit assault The 2011 Tikrit assault was an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq that took place in the city of Tikrit, Iraq, on 29 March 2011, while the war was still ongoing. Reuters news agency included the attack in its list of deadliest attacks in 2011. The ...

* 2011 Al Hillah bombing *

2011 Samarra bombing The 2011 Samarra bombing was an attack that took place in the city of Samarra on 12 February 2011. A suicide bomber A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has ac ...

* 2011 Al Diwaniyah bombing * 2011 Taji bombings * 15 August 2011 Iraq attacks * 28 August 2011 Baghdad bombing *

2011 Karbala bombing The 2011 Karbala bombing was an attack that took place in the city of Karbala on 25 September 2011. A car bomb exploded next to a crowded identity card office early in the morning and as people gathered to help injured in the first attack, a sui ...

* October 2011 Baghdad bombings *

2011 Basra bombings The 2011 Basra bombings were three bombing attacks in a busy market in Basra, Iraq, on November 24, 2011, that killed at least 19 people and wounded at least 65 more. The first bomb, concealed in a motorbike, exploded initially while the two othe ...

References

External links

List of some attacks 2003-2005Baghdad: Mapping the violence (BBC)Project Iraq Body Count
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iraq War Insurgent Attacks

bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

Bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...