Wave of car bombs across Baghdad kills 51

Medical officials confirmed the causality figures in Monday's attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media.  No group immediately claimed responsibility for the deadly wave, which bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda's local branch in Iraq, known as the Islamic State of Iraq.  



Iraqi security forces sealed off the sites of the attacks as fire fighters struggled to extinguish fires that broke out.  Twisted wreckage of cars and remnants of the car bombs littered the pavement.

“Our war with terrorism goes on,” Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan told The Associated Press. “Part of the problem is the political infighting and regional conflicts ...

There are shortcomings and we need to develop our capabilities mainly in the intelligence-gathering efforts.” Iraqi militants often target crowded places such as markets, cafes and mosques to inflict maximum casualties.

Today's attack were the biggest since the September 21 suicide bombings that struck a cluster of funeral tents packed with mourning families in Sadr City, killing at least 104 people.

Yesterday, a series of bombings in different parts of Iraq including two suicide bombings in the country's relatively peaceful northern Kurdish region killed 46.  

Although overall death tolls are still lower than at the height of the conflict, the current violence is reminiscent of the one that almost led to civil war in Iraq in 2006-2007.  More than 4,500 people have been killed since April.