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40 people killed and 82 injured after four explosions hit a mosque, market places and a police patrol Four bombs have exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 40 people in the worst violence the capital has seen in months, Iraqi officials said. An American civilian aid specialist working to improve education in Iraq was killed in a separate attack. The violence underscores the fragile nature of the security gains in Iraq at a time when American forces are preparing to withdraw by the end of this year. The first three bombs went off in quick succession in a southwestern Baghdad neighbourhood shortly after 7pm local time on Thursday. One targeted a Shiite mosque, another exploded just outside a popular market, while the third went off inside the market where people were doing their evening shopping ahead of the Muslim weekend, Iraqi police officials said. The officials said 34 people died and 82 others were injured in the three blasts. An official from Baghdad’s Yarmouk hospital confirmed the casualty figures. About an hour later, a parked car bomb targeting a police patrol killed six people, including one policeman and five bystanders in a different neighbourhood in southwestern Baghdad, said hospital officials. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq have been known to target Shiite mosques and Iraqi security forces. It was the worst attack in the capital since a parked car bomb exploded in a northern Baghdad in January, killing 48 people. The American civilian killed earlier Thursday was named as Dr Stephen Everhart.A US state department spokeswoman said: “Dr Everhart was an American citizen who was working in Iraq for an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development’s Mission in Iraq. He was killed while working on a project to introduce a new business curriculum to a Baghdad university in a programme supported by the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education. “We are saddened by this tragedy and extend our thoughts and prayers to Dr Everhart’s family and loved ones, and to the three other injured victims and their families,” she said. Iraq Middle East guardian.co.uk