This is from ABC News Australia thanks to Dumbledore's Army. As she says a more accurate headline would be  'Iraq: devout Muslims sacrifice dozens on eve of Ramadan'

Dozens of people were killed in weekend violence across Iraq, officials said, just days ahead of the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when insurgents typically step up their attacks.The unrest has fuelled concerns of a deterioration in security - more than 100 people have died so far this month - amid a massive pullout of American forces and a five-month-long political impasse, although US officers insist Iraqi soldiers and police are up to the task.

In the southern port city of Basra, the death toll rose to 43 from a spate of blasts on Saturday evening which officials said were caused by bombs and not a power generator short-circuit as first believed. "We received 43 corpses, and 185 people have been wounded," said Dr Riyadh Abdelamir, director of Basra province's health department, adding that women and children were among the wounded.

Ali al-Maliki, the head of the Basra provincial council's security committee, said the deaths were caused by coordinated attacks - a double car bombing and a third roadside bomb which caused a large fire in crowded Ashaar market in the centre of Basra, Iraq's third largest city. "The attack that hit Basra yesterday evening was the result of terrorist action," said Mr Maliki.

On Sunday morning, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at a petrol station in the western city of Ramadi, killing six people, medical and security officials said. The attack appeared to be targeting a nearby post office where local residents were collecting social security payments. Two women and a child were among those killed, while 29 others were wounded.