BAGHDAD: Near-simultaneous morning attacks across Iraq killed at least 60 people and wounded dozens on Thursday in one of the bloodiest days of violence since US troops pulled out in mid-December.

The attacks raised fears of a return to the widespread sectarian carnage that tore Iraq apart and cost thousands of lives in 2006 and 2007.

The violence broke weeks of relative calm as Shia Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and Sunni leaders sought to resolve a political crisis that threatened to unravel their power-sharing agreement following the US withdrawal.

At least 32 people were killed in blasts in Baghdad where 10 explosions tore through mainly Shia neighbourhoods during rush hour and other attacks targeted police patrols, commuters and crowds gathered in shopping areas.

“We were sitting at a restaurant having soup for breakfast when the bomb exploded. I lost consciousness and then saw smoke and dust when I came to. I saw people and body parts everywhere,” police officer Ahmed Kadhim said.

Kadhim suffered shrapnel wounds to his left leg and back when a car bomb exploded near a restaurant killing six people and wounding 18 in Baghdad’s northern Kadhimiya district.

The interior ministry blamed Al Qaeda and affiliated armed groups for the attacks it said were an attempt to show that Iraq’s security situation remained unstable.

More than a dozen blasts and attacks hit other cities across Iraq from Mosul in the north to Hilla, south of Baghdad, many of them targeting police. The violence was aimed at Shia neighbourhoods but also against security forces.

Iraqi officials had predicted such groups would try to stir sectarian tensions with attacks after American forces went home.—Reuters