Serial blasts kill over 65 in strife-torn Iraq

More than a dozen bombs went off in Baghdad this morning amid escalating violence in Iraq. The serial bombing occurred across the capital city in about one hour during a busy daytime, killing at least 65 people and wounding many more.

The streets were choked with morning commuters and shoppers when the explosions struck Baghdad, officials said. It was the latest in a series of terrorist attacks that have engulfed Iraq.

The explosions, which struck mainly Shiite neighbourhoods, follow a series of beheadings in recent days, some of which were claimed by Al Qaeda's Iraq affiliate.

The latest bout of terrorism has raised new fears that Iraq, whose population is mainly Shiite, is returning to the bloody sectarian violence that gripped the country in 2006 and 2007, nearly tearing it apart.

Baghdad was gripped by panic this morning, with now familiar scenes of panic and fear on the streets.

The series of coordinated attacks, which involved car bombs and suicide attackers, hit public markets, restaurants and a bus stop. While over 65 people were killed in Baghdad alone, the nationwide toll was well over 80, according to official figures.

The mass attack hit soldiers and civilians in Babel, Kirkuk and Mosul as well as Baghdad.

For days before the strikes, the local media published warnings by the government that a new wave of attacks was imminent, and security forces set up new checkpoints and other security measures.

But, in the end, the security forces were unable to stop the attacks, thus further undermining the confidence Iraqis have in the government to protect them.

In recent weeks, the security forces have undertaken a series of operations, mostly in Sunni neighborhoods, as part of a campaign the government is calling ''the revenge of the martyrs''.

The Shiite-dominated government claims to have arrested hundreds of Sunni extremists and discovered a factory that makes car bombs.

According to a BBC report, the government has also engaged in a public relations campaign that appears to aim at minimising the reported level of violence by releasing statements in the wake of the attacks that state lower death tolls than those reported by other security officials.

Around midday today, Iraq's interior ministry published a statement online reporting that only 18 people had been killed. However, a government official who for years has provided casualty figures to the media had already said that more than 60 people had been killed.