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.

This was the bloodiest day in Iraq since 8 December 2009, when 127 people were killed in the capital. It was also the deadliest day in the country until the attacks on 23 July 2012, which killed 116 people.

Background
Following the inconclusive 2010 Iraqi elections, these attacks were believed to be an attempt to further destabilise Iraq. Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi Army spokesman, gave a statement on 10 May in which he said "Al-Qaeda is trying to ... use some gaps created by some political problems".

According to official statistics, violent deaths in Iraq decreased slightly in April 2010 compared with April 2009.

Attacks
There were at least twenty attacks, of which the worst, by death toll, was a series of three to four suicide car bombs at the 'State Company for Textile Industries' in Al Hillah in central Iraq, approximately 100 km from the capital, Baghdad. The first two bombs were in quick succession at about 1:30 pm (10:30 UTC), followed minutes later by a third. A fourth car bomb targeted the crowd and emergency services at the scene, according to police Captain Ali al-Shimmari. The bombs killed a total of 45 people, leaving 140 wounded.

Fallujah, which had previously seen intense battles between insurgents and American troops was targeted with at least two deaths resulting from bomb blasts. There were also attacks in Iskandariya, Mosul, Samarra and Al Tarmia (Tarmiyah). A double bomb struck near a mosque in Suwayrah, killing 11 people and wounding 70 more. In the southern port city of Basra, a car bomb exploded at a market in the evening, followed by two more bombs at another market, killing 20 people.

There were multiple shootings across the country, particularly at checkpoints in Baghdad. According to officials, as Baghdad's nightly curfew lifted at 05:00 local time, gunmen disguised as municipal street cleaners attacked 10 police and army checkpoints across the city, killing as many as 9 soldiers and officers, and wounding 24.

Aftermath
Iraq put its security forces on alert following the spate of attacks.

Responsibility
While no organization claimed responsibility, Iraqi authorities blamed Al-Qaeda in Iraq for the attacks, which came shortly after U.S. and Iraqi forces killed two high-ranking members of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Reactions
An Interior Ministry source said the attacks were "a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere."

Baghdad's security spokesman said that a few remaining Al-Qaeda cells were "attempting to prove their existence" with the attacks.