The Canal Hotel blast, however, was a much deadlier attack than these incidents, or the usual hit-and-run ambushes and roadside bomb detonations that constitute the bread-and-butter of anti-coalition activity in Iraq.
From 2010, Islamic extremists have engaged in hit-and-run shootings and suicide bombings, attacks that have killed at least 1, 548 people before Friday's attack, according to an AP count.