Many more were wounded as at least a dozen explosions hit busy shopping areas and markets in the city.

 

There has been a recent marked rise in attacks in Iraq linked to growing political and sectarian tension.

 

It has raised fears of a return to the levels of sectarian（宗派的） violence seen in 2006 and 2007, in which thousands died.

 

 

On Monday, one bombing struck the busy commercial area of Sadoun Street in central Baghdad. 

 

One bystander who saw that attack, Zein al-Abidin, said a four-year-old child was among the victims. 

 

"What crime have those innocent people committed?" he asked.

 

Twin blasts in Habibiya, on the edge of the sprawling¹ Shia area of Sadr City, killed 12 people. They went off close to used car dealerships, wrecking³ dozens of cars.

 

"Guards are here, and a car explodes here," shouted Fadhel Hanoun, according to AFP news agency.

 

A used car dealer², he said that not only had people died, but many had lost their savings⁴, locked up in cars they had hoped to sell.

 

"How can we understand this?" he said. "This is a failed state." 

 

Other neighbourhoods targeted included al-Maalif, where six people died, according to the Associated Press news agency.

 

Deadly blasts were also reported in the eastern New Baghdad area, Sabi al-Boor, Shaab, Hurriya, Bayaa, Sadria, Jisr Diyala, Baladiyat and Madain, about 20km (12 miles) south of the city centre.

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