Bombs kill 21 in Iraq as violence intensifies…
BAGHDAD – Bombings killed at least 21 people in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Monday, including high school students on their way to final exams, as violence intensified before a planned withdrawal next week of U.S. troops from urban areas.
The bombings, nearly all in Shiite areas of the capital, came just two days after the year’s deadliest attack — a truck bombing that killed at least 75 people in northern Iraq.
Overall violence has declined drastically over the past two years, but the recent attacks have raised concerns about the Shiite-dominated government’s ability to provide security around the country without the immediate help of the U.S. troops remaining in Iraq.
Starting June 30, most of the 133,000 American troops left here will be housed in large bases outside the capital and other cities — unable to react unless called on for help. The withdrawal is part of an agreement under which all U.S. troops are to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
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