The streets of the Iraqi capital have been gradually losing their pedestrians for the past two weeks because of a series of explosions that hit different parts of the capital, leaving hundreds dead and wounded, amid news about the return of fake checkpoints. Iraqi streets are expected to be almost completely devoid of any movement during the first days of the current month, as Iraqi Shiites start the festival of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, the seventh Twelver Shiite Muslim, on June 5, 2013.

The latest wave of bombings that hit Baghdad on Thursday, May 30, 2013, left dozens dead as car bombs and improvised explosive devices detonated in the areas of Waziriya, Karrada, Sadiyah, al-Zoyoot and al-Bonook, following a bloody night during which a car bomb targeted a wedding party in the Shiite-majority neighborhood of Al-Hussein, part of ​​the predominantly Sunni al-Jihad area, west of Baghdad. The attack killed and wounded more than 80 people.

The Iraqi security services fear more casualties could result from attacks organized by Sunni militants against the Shiites in Baghdad, who will start to flock to Baghdad at the beginning of the week to visit the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim, located in the district of Kadhimiya, north of Baghdad.

A senior Iraqi officer who attended a security meeting convened by Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Nouri al-Maliki said, “One of the officers who attended the meeting told Maliki that the Islamic State of Iraq organization, an armed wing of al-Qaeda in Iraq, may succeed in killing thousands of Shiites attending the festival of Imam Kadhim in Baghdad, if the government does not impose a complete curfew in the capital.”