BAGHDAD — A wave of over a dozen car bombings hit central and southern Iraq during morning rush hour Monday, officials said, killing at least 51 people in the latest coordinated attack by insurgents determined to undermine the government.
The blasts, which wounded scores more, are part of a months-long surge of attacks that is reviving fears of a return to the widespread sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Suicide attacks, car bombings and other violence have killed more than 3,000 people since April, including more than 500 since the start of July, according to an Associated Press count.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Iraqi arm. The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, frequently sets off such coordinated blasts in an effort to break Iraqis' confidence in the Shiite-led government.
