Four blasts struck Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 72 and wounding at least 60, according to hospital officials. A motorcycle bomb by a bus stop where people gather looking for work in Sadr City killed eight of them; it was followed by a roadside bomb and then two blasts in the neighborhood Khazimiya. Iraq has provoked worries around the world that it could devolve into sectarian strife in the weeks since the U.S. removed the last of its troops from the country following its nine-year occupation. Iraq's Sunnis accuse the Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of trying to dominate the power-sharing government by sidelining major Sunni politicians, and on Tuesday, the crucial Sunni bloc Iraqiya boycotted parliament. Dozens more people have died in a recent spate of bombings aimed at Shiite areas, too.
