The surge in violence in Iraq has been linked to the rise of Islamist extremist groups fighting in Syria. (WARNING: Disturbing images)
As many as 979 people have died in September alone as Iraq is witnessing its worst sectarian violence in five years, reported the Associated Press. More than 800 of those dead were civilians caught in the brutal bloodshed led by al-Qaida insurgents.
Mahmoud Abdel-Rahman carries the dead body of his 11-month-old grandson, Latif, who was killed along with his mother on Monday when their house collapsed in a car bomb attack, while mourners carry the coffin of the mother, Hasnah Abdel-Rasul, during their funeral in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in Iraq, Tuesday, Oct. 1.
Hasnah and her son were just two of nearly 1,000 Iraqis killed in September amid a new surge in sectarian bloodshed nearly two years after the U.S. withdrew from the country.
AP
Iraqis carry the coffin of one of the victims of the suicide bomb attack on the Shiite mosque which was one of the bloodiest across Iraq leaving at least 39 people dead, officials said.
AFP / Getty Images
Innocent Iraqis suffer from the relentless bombing and attacks led by hard-line Sunni insurgents against the Shiite-led government. As many as 5,000 people have been killed between April to September.
Iraqis walk on the rubble of the Al-Hussein mosque after an explosion in the district of al-Musayyib, south of Baghdad, on Sept. 30. A suicide attack killed 27 people injured 35 during a Shiite Muslim funeral being held inside the mosque.
AFP / Getty Images
Qasim Ahmed Tahan carries the dead body of his 5-year-old son, Walid, who was killed in a bombing on Monday, before burial in Najaf, Iraq.
AP
