Suicide bombings and other attacks across Iraq killed at least 33 people and wounded nearly 80 more on Monday, officials said, the latest in an uptick in violence as the country counts down to crucial parliament elections later this month. Over the past year, violence has surged in Iraq to levels unseen since 2008. The increase in deadly shootings and bombings has become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge as the nation prepares to head to the polls on April 30 – the first vote in Iraq since the U.S. army withdrawal in 2011. Monday’s deadliest attack took place south of Baghdad in the town of Suwayrah, where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint, killing 12 people – five policemen and seven civilians. A police officer said 19 people were wounded in the attack. In the nearby town of Madain, about […]