Iraq attacks leave 31 dead, mostly security forces

Insurgents in Iraq launched two days of bloody assaults at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that killed at least 31 people, most of them members of the security forces serving in restive Sunni-dominated areas, authorities said Thursday.

The killings are the latest in a wave of bloodshed that has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people since the start of April. The months-long eruption of violence -- Iraq's worst in half a decade -- is raising fears the country is again returning to the brink of a civil war pitting its Sunni and Shiite Muslim sects against one another. (AP)